Face The Music
by DeathCat213
Summary: When Hinamori Amu, an aspiring singer, meets the most popular singer, Tsukiyomi Ikuto, and they have the same manager, what will happen when they start to get closer? But what if Amu despises the teen sensation? They'll have to learn to play nice. R&R!
1. Introducing The Characters

The pinkette sat nervously on the counter, waiting for the phone to ring. She glanced at the corded dinosaur of a phone that was plastered to the wall every few seconds. Her eyes were glued to the device when it suddenly let out a loud ring. She gave a surprised jump and slipped off the kitchen counter. She quickly stood up, brushed herself off, took a deep breath, and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Is this... Hinamori Amu?" a voice asked on the other end.

"Yes! This is Hinamori Amu," she chimed.

"This is Kotou Shiragin. I have read your application and I am anxious to see you audition," said the man on the other end of the phone.

"Oh, thank you, Kotou-san. When should I come by?"

"Well, I have Tuesday and Thursday open, which would be more convenient to you?" he asked.

"I can come by on Tuesday," a smile spread on the girl's face.

"That's wonderful. Come by the EASTER building at 2 o' clock on Tuesday. My office is on the third floor, number three-fifteen. I'm looking forward to meeting you, Hinamori-san."

"You too, Kotou-san," she said as she hung up the phone. Amu stared at the phone on the wall for a few seconds before letting out a squeal of exitment. It had taken a few years, but she had finally gotten a start on a new career.

On Tuesday, Amu woke up early and took an extra long shower. She blow-dried her hair so that it fell with small curls at the ends. She grabbed a large lock of hair and clipped it apart from her head with a black 'x' clip. She searched through her closet for her most appealing clothes. After many outfits had been thrown on the floor, she ended up with a red and black plaid skirt with a red lace trimming and a black halter top with 'x' clips attached to the straps. She laced up a pair of Converse boots that went up to her knees, and a small red purse that held her cell phone, a bit of make-up such as mascara and eye shadow, and some pens and pencils and a small note pad. She ran downstairs and found her mom and dad watching television with her little sister, Ami.

"Mom, Dad, I'm going on a walk," she said to them as she left the house. She had decided to keep her audition a secret from her parents and tell them as a surprise after.

She strolled down the seldom busy streets of her neighborhood. She realized how many signs that were visible from her own streets. She looked up and saw an advertisement for the new Tsukiyomi Ikuto CD, "Black Lynx Lover." She absolutely hated him. He was a new singer, only about a few months famous, but girls were all over him. She didn't know what she hated more, how he sang, or how he looked. She stopped walking and observed every detail of the sign. He had long midnight blue hair that covered his face and was always a mess because his bangs were pulled into a point right in front oh his eyes. His eyes. He had blue eyes, just lighter than his hair. His eyes always made him look so sad.

Amu shook her head. All the girls at her school were always talking about how cool he is and how they're all totally in love with him and how they're going to marry him and have a bunch of little kids running around their beach houses in America and England and France. She tried to keep pointing out the fact to her friend, Yaya, that he was 18, and wasn't interested in 7th and 8th grade girls. Her friend, Rima, had only slightly fallen under his spell, and only liked him for his music. All of her guy-friends were on her side with hating the teenage-wonder. She approached the EASTER building and stared at with in awe. It was huge. Feeling a rush of adrenaline, she confidently strided through the revolving glass doors into the building for her audition.

"Where are the elevators?" she asked the woman at the front desk.

"Go down the hall behind me, then take a right, another right, then a left, then go down 3 more halls, then a right."

"Thank you," she said and started walking.

Amu started down the hall behind the desk and took a right. She got to the next turn and took a right. Or was it a left? She looked back. Was she supposed to take a right or left? She went back and took the left instead. She went down three more halls, and took a right. She wasn't at an elevator. She was at the broom closet. Maybe she should've taken the right back there... She nervously looked around. she wasn't lost, she was just... confused. She started walking up and down random halls. Okay, she was lost. After finding another dead end, she sighed and started walking backwards to the hallway so she could try a different direction. Before she got back to where the hallways met, she bumped into something warm and tall. She turned around to see a tall and lean teenage boy standing right in front of her. Tsukiyomi Ikuto.

"You lost?" he asked.

"N-no. I'm not lost, I know exactly where I am!" she said, irritably.

"Then why are you going to the power room?" he asked with a smirk.

"I... I... Ugh!" she pushed past him angrily and stomped off toward another hallway.

"Wherever you're trying to get, I'll take you there," he offered as he started to follow her.

She looked back at him reluctantly, "I need to find the elevators..."

Ikuto simply put his hand up and pointed in front of her. Amu looked forward to see two elevators, side by side. She looked back at Ikuto, who was smirking at her misfortune. She pressed the elevator button and waited. Ikuto joined her.

"What do you want?" she asked, obviously annoyed.

"A simple 'thank you' would be nice," he replied.

"I would've found it myself," she argued.

"Yes, but you still accepted my help, so I deserve a thank you."

The elevator opened and they both stepped inside. Amu clicked the third button from the bottom and waited for Ikuto to click whatever floor he was going to. He didn't. The elevator went up and dinged as it passed the second floor, and the doors opened at the third. Amu and Ikuto both stepped out of the elevator and the doors closed behind them. Ikuto strided off to the hallway on the right, and Amu followed him, hoping room 315 was that direction. Ikuto opened the door to a room and Amu read the sign by the window, "Room 315 Kotou Shiragin."

Amu stepped into the room and quickly read the clock behind Shiragin's head. 2:10.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Kotou-san. I got lost looking for the elevators," Amu bowed. She noticed Ikuto sitting on a couch on the side of the room typing on a laptop.

"It's perfectly fine, Hinamori-san. I got lost my first time here too."

Amu gave a small inward sigh as Shiragin started to read over a paper as she recognized as her application.

"'Name: Hinamori Amu, age: 13, birthdate: September 24th, talent: singing'... so you sing. Question is, are you any good?"

"Well, thats for you to decide," Amu said.

"Then how about you sing something for me then," he offered. He sat down, and motioned for Ikuto to stop typing. He gave an angry look to Shiragin, but then put his laptop aside and watched Amu.

Amu took a deep breath and started:

Lalala uta wo utaou

Kao age kokoro no mama utaou

Akirame ja ikenai

Dekinai koto nande nai yuuki no uta

Dare ni mo makenai Yume ga aru

Arukidasou mune hatte

Watashi dake no michi ga aru

Shinjiru no saho n ta sa

Dakai yama ga ja noshite mo

Ganbatte nori koe yo

Watashi ni nara dekiru sa kiseki oko so

Shiragin stared at her for a few moments, then a smile grew on his face. Amu smiled shyly back, and noticed Ikuto still staring at her, an emotionless expression plastered to his face.

"Wow. I expected you to be good, but not this good," Shiragin praised, "You were wonderful, even a capella."

"Thank you, that means a lot," Amu blushed.

"Did you write that?" Ikuto asked from the other side of the room, "I've never heard it before."

Amu looked him in the eye, "My mom used to sing it to me when I was little."

"Well that was great," complimented Shiragin, "We should get a recording of that."

Amu smiled. This is what she had always wanted. She looked over at Ikuto, who had a small smirk on his face. She wondered why he was here. Its not like he had to be around for her audition or anything. Shiragin cleared his throat, and Amu looked back at him.

"I'm sure you know that this is Tsukiyomi Ikuto," he motioned to the man sitting lazily on the couch, typing away on his laptop again, "I am his manager, and if your recording is good, I'll be yours too."

Amu stared at him. Her and Tsukiyomi Ikuto have the the same manager? This was definitely not what she wanted. She inwardly sighed. Though she didn't like the thought of having the same manager as Tsukiyomi Ikuto, she wanted to be a singer, so she'd just have to get over it.

"I have a few things to take care of and I need to get the recording studio booked. I'll be back in about 10 or 15 minutes. While I'm gone, I'd like you guys to get to know each other," and with that, Kotou SHiragin left his office, leaving Tsukiyomi Ikuto and Hinamori Amu alone together.

"So," Ikuto started.

"Don't talk to me."

"That's sort of harsh," he frowned with mock-sadness.

"I don't like you," Amu turned her head away from him.

"And why is that? You don't even know me."

Amu turned to look at him. She studied his visage. His expression was strong. It did look as if he was sincerely hurt by her words, but Amu could guess that he wasn't. His eyes, although sad, also had a glaring tone in them, as if sayig "What you just said was mean. I'm sad now. I don't like you. Get out of my sight, I'm so sad." His mouth was pulled into a small tight frown, and his eyebrows matched the same expression shown in his eyes.

"I... I don't like your music. And I don't like how all the girls at my school are so obsessed with you. They all say that they're so totaly in love with you, and they're going to marry you because you really love them and only them, you just don't know it yet. I hate you because of how much attention you can get after just one music hit on the radio. That's why I don't like you."

Ikuto stared at her. The same expression on his face, except with a tad bit more sad emotions. His facial expression then changed to be relaxed and nonchalant as had she had said sunk in. There was a bit of silence before he simply stated the quote, "Ignorance is bliss."

"Hmph," Amu crossed her arms across her chest and gave a small stomp of her foot.

"Come sit over here," he said as he patted the spot on the couch beside him, "Its not going to kill you."

Amu realized that she couldn't stand like that forever, so she reluctantly sat down beside him. The silence continued from there on, besides the monotonous typing that filled the room. Amu, having nothing else to look at, watched the screen as Iktuo typed lyrics for his new song. She watched as the empty letters turned to words, the words turned to lines, and the lines turned into verses. She had gotten so used to the sound of his typing that she gave a small frightened gasp at the sound of something popping. Ikuto stopped typing and moved his finger across the track pad and opened a different tab. A chat message had popped up on his Facebook. Amu read the name of the message, which was highlighted in a dark blue, with a red speech bubble with the number 1 in it. Utau Hoshina. It took a few moments for Amu to process what she read.

"You... You know Hoshina Utau?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Yep," he clicked open the message and quickly replied, "She's my sister."

Amu read what had been written:

Utau Hoshina at 2:23 HEY IKUTO-KOI! 3

Ikuto Tsukiyomi at 2:23 Leave me alone, Utau.

Utau Hoshina at 2:23 But I loooovvvvveeee you, Ikuto-koi! 3 3 3

Ikuto Tsukiyomi at 2:24 Utau, we're siblings. I'm leaving now.

Amu looked at him. He opened his chat options and went offline, automatically closing his chat with Utau.

"You know, its not nice to just stop talking to your own sister like that."

"Oh, you don't know how Utau acts around me. She's a total fangirl. She's worse than the other girls at your school, considering shes also my blood related sister."

"Okay, whatever."

There was more silence along with his typing.

"So, tell me about yourself," Ikuto said to her.

"What? Why?" Amu asked.

"Just because. Here, I'll tell you about me too. My favorite food is chocolate... Or maybe chocolate tayaki. Just depends. Now whats yours?" he smirked at her and closed his laptop.

"You can't be serious," she stared at him.

He simply stared back.

"Fine. My favorite food is also tayaki, though I prefer red bean over chocolate."

"Whats your favorite color? Mine is black."

"I like red."

"Where would you like to travel one day?"

"To New York City, New York. Or anywhere else in America, really," Amu felt as if something was missing, "H-Hey! You didn't answer."

"Oh, I didn't, did I? Well then, if it truely matters, I'd like to go to Paris, France, one day. So why do you want to go to America?"

"Well, for one, I've always liked western food and western music. But some other reasons are that its all the way on the other side of the world, and it just amazes me that I could go there. Also, its such a big country, and its so different from ours. Why do you want to go to Paris?"

Ikuto stared at her with the same expression he had when she told him that she hated him, minus the anger. It looked as if he was about to cry. Amu suddenly regretted asking the question, but she was now very curious as to why asking a simple question could bring along such an emotion.

Just as Ikuto opened his mouth to speak, Shiragin walked in with more papers than he left with.

"That's... a secret," Ikuto gave her a look.

Shiragin looked at Amu questioningly, "You asked him why he wanted to go to Paris?"

Amu nodded her head, and she glanced at Ikuto who was now slouched over with his elbows on his knees and his head hung, only supported by his hands. Shiragin gave him a knowing look, before turning his attention to Amu.

"Come on, Hinamori-san. The recording studio is ready. We'll record you, add some backgound music, and we'll see how it sounds, and then we'll send it to the boss. He's really the one that decides if a song is ready to go to the radio or not.

"Okay, Kotou-san," Amu got up from the couch. As she left, she looked back to Ikuto. She really wondered what was wrong with him. All she asked was why he wanted to go to Paris. It was obviously something he didn't want to talk about. That she was sure of. She let her thoughts drift to all the possible senarios she could think of, absent mindedly following Shiragin wherever he led her down the mass hallways of this massive talent trap.


	2. OneSided Truth Or Dare

Shiragin clicked the speaker button and spoke into the microphone, "Okay, Hinamori-san, start whenever you're ready."

Amu quickly glanced at the monotonous white walls around her. So this is what a recording booth is like. She quickly studied the microphone, "Kotou-san, what's this big thing in front of the microphone?"

"Well, actually, I can't remember what its called at the moment, but its there to catch air so that all we hear is your singing instead of you breathing between phrases," he explained.

That made sense. She sat down on the stool in front of the microphone and started singing her song. She had a habit of singing with her eyes closed, so she didn't see Ikuto walk in and watch her sing. Of course, he couldn't hear anything because Shiragin had the headphones on, but he could tell by how into it Amu was and how much Shiragin was smiling that she was good. Really good.

He watched, feeling deaf to everything going on around him. The clocks didn't tick in this room. They were all digital. There was absolutly no sound coming through the booth, and he couldn't hear her sing from Shiragin's headphones. Shiragin listened to his music to quietly. Ikuto only noticed that she was done singing when her eyes opened and she smiled at Shiragin, who gave her a thumbs up. He motioned for her to come out of the booth. She eagerly jumped off of the stool and strided through the door. She stopped when she noticed Ikuto. A blush touched her cheeks when their eyes made contact. Hopefully he had gotten over it.

"Okay, Hinamori-san, just give me a minute and I'll have it together," Shiragin said as he started to press buttons and move sliders that did things that Amu couldn't think of, "Well, actually... It might take a while. Ikuto, you and Hinamori-san go back up to my office. I'll by up when I'm done."

"Sure," Ikuto sighed and motioned for Amu to follow him.

They went back to the office, and Amu sat down on the couch were she was sitting before. Ikuto wasn't typing. He wasn't on Facebook. He just sat there. Amu reached into her purse and pulled out her iPod. Ikuto gazed at it. Just as Amu was turning it on, Ikuto snatched it out of her hand.

"Hey! Thats mine!" she yelled as she reached over him to grab it.

"I'm not taking it, I just want to see what kind of music you have on here," he stretched his arm out of Amu's reach.

She leaned even further over him, trying not to lose her balance, "Give it back!"

Ikuto cleared his throat. Amu stopped. She had the idea of climbing on top of Ikuto and make him fall over to get her iPod back. Though that was definitely the wrong approach. Ikuto was laying down on the couch, his back against the arm rest. He had the iPod in his left hand, stretched back behind him so that Amu couldn't reach it. His legs were bent as an attempt to keep the pinkette back. Amu had her left knee between Ikuto's legs, her right leg was somewhat "wrapped" around Ikuto's left leg, and she kept her balance by putting her weight on just her toes. Her left hand was on Ikuto's collar bone, and her right was reaching over Ikuto's head for the iPod.

As Amu made a move to get off of him, her foot slipped and she fell. Ikuto grunted as all of Amu's weight fell onto his body. He straightened out his left leg, and Amu rolled over and fell off of the couch.

"Ow..." Amu rubbed her head.

Ikuto sat up and looked down at Amu. He squinted his eyes, and a very lazy expression showed on his face, "Red... black... red... black... red... black..."

Amu listened as he started to repeat colors. The colors sounded familiar to her, but she couldn't remember where exactly she had seen that pattern. Then it hit her, "PERVERT!" she yelled as she pushed her skirt back down, covering the red and black stripes of her underwear.

Ikuto cris-crossed his legs and smirked at her before turning his attention back to the iPod. He turned it on and went to her songs. He gave her an inquizitive look as he noticed that almost all of the songs were in English. Even though he was fluent in English, it hadn't occured to him what some of their music was like. He scrolled through songs until he found a song called "Hollaback Girl." He clicked on it. He stared at the iPod as if it was something he had never seen before. Amu blushed.

"What the heck is this?" he said, a hysterical laugh finding its way into the question.

"Its called 'Hollaback Girl' by Gwen Stefani," she gave him an exasperated sigh, as if it was second nature to know that.

They listened to it, Ikuto laughing at some of the lyrics. Amu just had to laugh along with Ikuto when it got to the part where she sang "This shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S, This shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S."

Ikuto went though more songs, such as "London Bridges" by Fergie, and "The Real Slim Shady" by Eminem. They laughed a lot, Amu finally realizing how strange the lyrics were. Ikuto went to the Albums list and clicked on the one that said "We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things."

"Who's this one by?" he asked as the first song, "Make It Mine" came on.

"That's by Jason Mraz. He's one of my favorites," she smiled.

Ikuto flipped through songs until he found one called "Butterfly."

Amu blushed as the song came on.

I'm taking a moment just imagining that I'm dancing with you I'm your pole and all youre wearing is your shoes You got soul, you know just what to do to turn me on Until I write a song about you

Ikuto looked up from the iPod and looked her in the eye. His eyes were foggy and the rest of his face emotionless. Amu gulped. What was he going to say?

"Interesting," he turned off the iPod.

They sat in silence. An awkward silence.

"Who wrote that again?" Ikuto asked her.

"Jason Mraz."

Ikuto pulled out his laptop and went to Google. He typed in "Jason Mraz."

He went to the official website and started looking at other songs.

He went through different songs, listening to the first few seconds or so of every song.

"Truth or dare?"

"What?" Amu gazed at him.

"Truth or dare?" he said it slower.

Amu sighed, "Truth."

"Does your bra match your panties?"

"What?"

"Its a simple yes or no question," he explained.

"You're such a pervert."

"Well?" he smiled at her.

Amu blushed and looked away, "I... I'm not wearing one..."

Ikuto looked at her, wide eyed. He knew Amu wasn't the bustiest girl her age, but her chest was worth at least an A-cup, "Why?"

"I'm wearing a halter top, dummy. You don't wear a bra with a halter top, the straps will show. Now truth or dare."

"Dare," he said.

"Get back on Facebook and talk to Utau nicely," she smiled at him.

Ikuto sighed as he leaned over and grabbed his laptop and logged onto Facebook. Of course Utau was on, so he clicked open the chat window.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi at 2:50 Hey, Utau.

Utau Hoshina at 2:50 Hey Ikuto-koi! You're talking to me! 3 Thats so sweet! :)

Ikuto Tsukiyomi at 2:50 So... How have things been?

Utau Hoshina at 2:51 They've been great! What are you doing right now?

Ikuto Tsukiyomi at 2:51 I'm at the EASTER building with a new girl. Her name's Hinamori Amu.

Utau Hoshina at 2:51 Well... tell her that you belong to me... and tell her I said hi.

Ikuto looked over to Amu, "Utau says hi."

Amu smiled.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi at 2:51 Okay, well, Shiragin is back, so I've got to go, I'll talk to you later. Maybe.

Utau Hoshina at 2:51 Okaayyyy! Bye Ikuto-kooiiiii! I loooovvveeee youuuuu! 3 3 3

"There, I did it," Ikuto looked down at his hands on the keyboard, "I've got to go wash my hands."

"Oh, yeah, Tsukiyomi-san, could you show me where the restrooms are so I'll know later?" Amu stood up with him.

"Only if you promise to call me by my name,"

"What?"

"I-ku-to. Its not that hard," he smirked at her.

"I... Ikuto... could you please show me where the restrooms are?" she blushed.

"Of course I can," he smiled and walked out of the door, motioning for Amu to follow him.

They walked down the hallways. Amu tried her hardest to memorize which hallways they were taking. Finally they got to a hall with two doors, side by side. One had a pink sign on it, the other blue. Amu walked into the pink one, and Ikuto walked into the blue. Ikuto was out of the bathroom before Amu, so he leaned against the wall and waited. But just then, Ikuto had a plan. He heard the water of the sink running as Amu washed her hands. He quietly opened the door, tip toeing his way into the girls' bathroom. She put her hands under the loud hand dryer. The noise covered up the sounds of his foot steps. Amu was too busy looking at her hands to notice Ikuto standing behind her. She pulled her hands away from under the dryer and looked into the mirror. She saw her, and Ikuto standing behind her, smirking at her, making their eye contact through their reflections. Amu started to let out a scream, but Ikuto covered her mouth with his hand. The other hand crept up her back to her neck. He grabbed one of the strings that held the halter top up and played with it between his fingers. Amu tried to pull his hand away from her mouth, but his hand was too large and strong. She squirmed and tried to pull away from him. She looked at his reflection with pleading eyes. What she saw was scary. He had a smirk on his face which she knew spelled trouble, and his eyes had that glassy foggy look as they did when they were listening to "Butterfly." He tugged at the string slowly, drawing a reaction out of the frightened little girl. Then, he tugged the rest off and the halter top fell down.


	3. Amu

Amu let out a scream into Ikuto's hand as she quickly reached for the straps of her shirt, but her shirt had fallen to the ground around her ankles, and Ikuto now had his hand on Amu's shoulder, keeping her from reaching down. She watched his eyes as he looked her up and down in the mirror.

"You're such a liar," he said as he moved his fingers and gave her room to speak.

"What do you mean?" she wrapped her hands around his wrist, trying to pull it off.

Ikuto leaned over and rested his chin on her shoulder. He lifted her right arm up and tapped the fabric that still covered delicate skin, "You are wearing a bra. A strapless one for that. And it doesn't match your panties," he playfully frowned, "You lied to me."

"Well yeah! Its not like I'm going to tell you what color my bra is!"

Amu looked at her reflection in the mirror. He was right. Her bra, which was white with blue polka dots and a small blue lace, did not match her red and black striped panties.

"I didn't ask what color it was, I just asked if it matched," he smirked.

Amu sighed, "So is that all you came in here to do?"

"Yep," Ikuto fingered the fabric against her skin.

"Thank God," Amu sighed, totally forgetting the fact that she still didn't have a shirt on and that Ikuto was messing with her bra, which in turn was making it pull down a bit every few seconds.

"What? You thought I came in here to rape you or something? And you call me the pervert. I just came in here to prove you wrong," he continued to mess with the edge of the fabric. He noticed that it was moving down every few seconds, getting closer and closer to falling off. He would've stopped, but he was really comfortable in the position he was in, despite the fact that he was leaning over to rest his head on something a third his height. And either way, she never told him to stop.

"Well, I mean, I was worried..." she stated, a blush touching her cheeks.

"Well, the only reason I came in here was to prove you wrong. And since you lied, you have to do a dare," he smirked.

"Okay, okay, what is it?"

"hmmm... I dare you to wear cat ears the rest of the week and end all your sentences in '~nya.'"

"Sorry, Ikuto, but I don't own any cat ears."

"We have some in the prop closet," Ikuto continued to fiddle with the fabric on the side of her bra, and the small cups continued to creep down her chest.

Amu finally noticed that Ikuto was still playing with her bra, and that her bra was about to fall all the way off, "Okay, pervert, let go of my bra. Now," she said angrily as a deep red blush stained her cheeks.

Ikuto let go and stood back up. He left the womens' bathroom, making sure that no one saw him, and leaned against the wall, waiting for Amu to put her shirt back on and come outside. Amu soon emerged from the restroom, shirt and all.

"Come on," Ikuto motioned for her to follow him. They snaked through hallways until they reached a red door. The green sign beside the door read "Prop Closet."

Ikuto walked in, leaving Amu in the hallway. He brought out a pair of black cat ears and a black collar with a little bell. He tied the collar around Amu's neck while she fitted the ears on to her head. She tossed her hair in front of the black band in an attempt to hide the band so the ears looked real.

Ikuto took a step back and looked her over, "You look so cute."

"I hate you... ~nya."

Ikuto chuckled and motioned for Amu to follow him. She didn't, "Come on... Amew," He laughed out loud at the name that slipped his lips.

"Its not funny ~nya," she glared at him.

"Well, follow me back to the office so you don't get lost."

"Okay ~nya," she sighed.

Ikuto let Amu walk ahead of him, to test if she knew her way back. She got about half way there, then Ikuto had to tell her which way to go the rest of the way. They got back to the office and Ikuto rushed in and jumped onto the couch, spreading out and taking up the whole thing. Amu grunted. She looked above the couch. She went to the end of the couch and climbed up the side and rested across the back. They rested there, resting for a bit. Amu stretched her arms and yawned. She lost her balance fell off the back of the couch. She landed on Ikuto. Again.

"If you wanted to lay down on top of me that bad, you could have just asked. I would've said yes," Ikuto said without moving to look at her.

"Pervert," Amu said as she playfully hit him in the head, "~nya."

"Well, I wouldn't mind in the least. You remind me of my old cat, Yoru. He'd always lay on my stomach when I was laying on the couch," he stretched his arms.

"Whatever ~nya," Amu put her elbow into Ikuto's ribs, trying her hardest to hurt him as she used her hand to support her head.

"You're so mean, Amu-nyan," Ikuto cooed as he brushed her elbow off his ribs, "That hurts... Ow, move your elbow, Amu. That's not any better... Ouch... That hurts even more. God, Amu, just... just stop trying. Just use my chest as a pillow or something. Your cheeks can't hurt that much."

Much to her dismay, she knew Ikuto wouldn't stop complaining until she stopped hurting him, so she layed her arm across his chest and rested her chin on it. Ikuto looked as if he was about to fall asleep. She didn't want to bother him, so she started to let her mind drift.

She looked down to Ikuto's face, half asleep. Wow, this was interesting. Then Amu realized something. She hated Ikuto. She hated how much attention he got from all the girls at her school that didn't even know him. She had to admit, he wasn't all bad, but she still hated him. She was supposed to hate him. But now, now she was using him as a pillow! She quickly rolled off of him and headed for the door. She silently closed the door behind her, trying to make sure Ikuto didn't hear her. She walked out into the hallways, eventually finding her way back to the recording studio. Shiragin was just standing up to leave.

"Hinamori-san! Perfect timing. I just finished... Oh, where's Ikuto?"

"He's taking a nap in your office ~nya..."

"Seriously? I told him not to do that," he gave a small frown.

"Why not ~nya?" she asked.

"Ikuto's too lazy sometimes. And that couch really can't be good for his shoulders," he rolled his eyes. He obviously didn't care as much as he let on.

"Oh... ~nya."

Shiragin pointed to the cat ears on the girl, "I take it you and Ikuto played truth or dare while I was gone?"

"Yeah, how'd you know ~nya?"

"When Ikuto plays truth or dare, he always dares one of the girls in the group to put on cat ears and end their senteces in '~nya,'" he explained as he started walking up the stairs to leave the recording room.

"Why is that ~nya?" she said as she followed him.

"Ikuto... I don't know. Though I make fun of him and say he has a cat fetish," he winked at Amu.

Amu blushed when she thought of what had happened in the bathroom right before he dared her to the cat ears and the cursed '~nya.'

Shiragin and Amu walked back to the office. Amu led the way and got all they way back on her own.

"Good job, Hinamori-san," Shiragin petted her head when they got back to the office all on Amu's command.

"Thank you," Amu said as she smiled at him. She looked over to Ikuto who had a 'why'd you leave?' face on, "~nya."

"Okay, I e-mailed the song to my inbox, so it should be here in a minute or so," he said.

Amu went and sat on the couch after noticing that Ikuto had sat up too. She scooted as far away from him as she could, pressing herself against the arm rest. She felt completely disgusted with herself for becoming friends with Tsukiyomi Ikuto so quickly.

"I see you found another victim for your cat fetish, Ikuto," Shiragin said from behind his desk.

Ikuto blushed. It wasn't much, but there was a tint of pink on his tan cheeks, "I... I don't have a cat fetish. What's wrong with you? You're sick," he growled at him.

Amu watched. Ikuto's weakness was being made fun of about a cat fetish? That's weird. Though, she could use that to her advantage later. Maybe, if they played truth or dare again... she could make him wear cat ears and go '~nya' too.

"Oh! Okay, Hinamori-san, its here. Come here so you can listen to it. You too, Ikuto," he waved them over, while keeping his eyes on the screen.

Amu and Ikuto both got up from the couch. Amu walked the long way around to the other side of the desk, while Ikuto took a few steps and stood beside Shiragin.

Shiragin clicked on the link in his message, and another window popped up with a small grey music player. He clicked the grey triangle, making the song start.

Her voice sounded just like it had when they recorded it, but now it sounded... better, without changing it.

"Background music can do a lot for the vocals," Shiragin said, as if reading Amu's mind.

Amu tried to pick out the instruments that she heard. There were drums, in particular a bass drum. There was also a bass guitar. She'd always wanted to learn how to play that... Then there she heard was something she didn't expect. Shiragin had added a cello and a violin to her song. It was different... but it fit so perfectly. She was surprised at how good it sounded. She had always wondered how songs sounded so good, because they definitely couldn't have been done without editing the sound.

"Wow," Ikuto gazed at the computer.

"Yeah, thats really good ~nya" Amu agreed.

"So you think its good enough to go to the boss?" Ikuto addressed his question to Shiragin.

"Definitely. I'm going to go talk to him right now," he started to leave. Amu got up to follow him, "Sorry, Hinamori-san, you aren't allowed to go."

"Oh ~nya,"

Ikuto sat himself back down on the couch, and Amu sat down on the other side. Shiragin lightly closed the door behind him, and all was silent once again.

"Truth or dare ~nya?" Amu asked.

"Truth," Ikuto stated blankly.

"Why are you trying to be my friend ~nya?"

"Because," Ikuto raised an eyebrow at her question.

"I mean, I hate you ~nya. Why are you trying to be my friend ~nya?"

"Is it so bad that I'm trying to be your friend?" he scooted closer to her.

"Yes, I hate you ~nya. Now, why are you trying to be my friend so badly ~nya? And you have to tell the truth ~nya," she glared at him.

"I see. I want to be your friend because... Before I was famous, when I was just a normal high school student, I couldn't make any friends because I was too popular. I truly hate the snobby rich kind of popular people. Though, of course, that's what everyone labeled me as. So then I just sort of separated myself from everyone else. Then, when I became famous, you can't trust most celebrities. So... I don't exactly have any 'famous friends.' So... I'm trying to become friends with you before you become famous... Then, I'll have a friend who can stay my friend," he gave her a sincere look of sadness and want.

Amu gazed into his midnight blue eyes. A dark pink blush crept its way across her cheeks. They stared each other in the eye and all around them was silent. Amu could hear her heart beating strongly. Ikuto slowly moved closer to her.

"You know, as anyone can guess, a strong friendship is based on trust."

Amu nodded.

"And trust is built by knowing secrets and being able to keep them."

Amu nodded.

"Would you like to know why I want to go to Paris?"

Amu nodded.

"Then tell me why you really hate me."

Amu stared at him. She was sure she was a better liar than that. A blush covered her cheeks, and her eyes started to sting.

"Tell me, Amu," he said in a low voice, almost a whisper.

"My family... I have a mom... I have a dad... And I have a little sister, Ami. And... I had two older twin brothers."

Ikuto stared at her giving her his undivided attention.

"They were identical twins, Ama and Amo. They were fourteen. And... well, they looked... a lot like you. Messy blue hair, blue eyes, tan skin. Though Ama and Amo had very different personalities. Ama was a nice and well behaved boy. Amo was a rebel. Though, Amo loved to play with me, and I loved to play with Amo. I was the only person he would listen to. I didn't know why back then, because this was when I was 5, but he said that I was the only person that he felt safe around. I was the only person he could keep himself in around. But Ama loved me too. Ama tried to keep Amo away from me, because he didn't want Amo to hurt me. Then... one day... Amo wouldn't talk to me. He wouldn't listen to me. He acted as if I never existed. So then, Ama would play with me all the time. Ama would make sure that Amo never went near me. I got really sad then. I really didn't like it when they fought, but this was farther than they had ever gone before. One day, we were in the backyard. Amo was sitting on the swing. Not swinging. Just sitting on the swing. He was staring into space. He kept nudging a small duffel bag with his foot. Ama was playing in the sand box with me. But I didn't feel like playing with Ama, I wanted to play with Amo. I started to cry, and Amo glanced over at me. He looked so angry. He picked up the duffel bag and stomped over to Ama. He asked Ama why I was crying, and Ama said it was because of Amo. This got Amo really mad," Amu took a few minutes to breathe. Tears started to run down her face. She had promised herself that she would never cry about this again, but tears continued to run down her face, "He reached into the duffel bag and pulled out a gun. He held it to Ama's head. Ama started begging him not to shoot, but his pleas never reached Amo's ears, and Amo pulled the trigger, and Ama was dead. There was blood everywhere. It got all over my pink and white dress, it stained the grass and the off white sand from the sand box. Then, Amo leaned down to me, he kissed me on the cheek, he told me he was sorry, and that he would miss me, then she shot himself," tears ran hot rivers down Amu's red face.

Ikuto stared at her in disbelief.

"I hate you so much... because you look like them, and you remind me of them, and you act like Amo," Amu sobbed and gave Ikuto a hug, gripping for dear life to the back of his shirt, her mascara and tears staining the light blue fabric. Ikuto stared at what he could see of her wide eyed, he had never been in a situation like this before. He slowly moved his arms around and hugged her back. For a while they sat there, Amu sobbing into Ikuto's chest, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, and his placed lightly on her back. They stayed like that until Amu ran out of tears, until her sob turned into the occasional hiccup, "I miss them so much," she said in a ghostly whisper.

"It... Its okay, Amu. Its normal to feel like this," he said, thinking of a better way to explain it.

"R-really?" she looked up at him, not believing him.

"Well, yeah. Think of it this way: If you ate a lemon for the fist time, and you didn't like how it tasted, then someone offered you a lime, you wouldn't want it because they're both citrus fruits and therefore have about the same taste. Get it?"

Amu nodded her head.

"That's... a lot to go through for a 5 year old. I'm surprised you haven't committed suicide."

Amu decided not to tell him that she had tried. She had tried 3 times.

"Ikuto-kun..."

"Its Ikuto."

"Ikuto..."

"What?"

"Why does... Why does Ikuto want to go to Paris?"


	4. A Makeover

"Why do I want to go to Paris?" Ikuto confirmed the question.

Amu knew that it may not be safe to tread this far in to Ikuto's personal life, but she was too curious, "Yeah."

"My..."

Just then Shiragin came bursting in the door, "Hinamori-san! Good news! The boss loves your song!"

Ikuto shot Shiragin a depressed look, which went completely unnoticed.

"That's... wonderful," Amu smiled, wishing he had come in just a bit later.

"That means that I'm both of your manager's, and as soon as your music is introduced to the world, you'll be touring together!"

Amu and Ikuto quickly glanced at each other in surprise. Ikuto knew how good Amu sang, and how quickly Shiragin liked to move things. They could be touring together within the next week or so.

"Ikuto, is Kotou-san always like this?" Amu asked, pointing to him eagerly gathering papers together with a large smile on his face.

"Yep."

"Come on, Hinamori-san, you have to meet the boss now!" he started to make his way out of the office.

"Whats the boss like?" Amu said as she leaned in closer.

"You'll... be surprised."

And with that, Amu left with Shiragin to meet the boss. Amu payed attention to the different turns they took, trying to memorize the route to the boss's office.

They walked in to a dark room, shelves full of beautiful stones and gems lined the walls. The large chair facing the wall behind the desk quickly spun around to reveal the boss. Her boss was a child, even younger than her. He had light blond hair that fell in front of his face, right above his large eyes.

"My name is Hikaru."

Amu stared at him blankly, "I... I'm Hinamori Amu."

"Don't you think that I'd know the name of a great singer? Especially if they're employed under my name?"

"Oh, yes."

There was a minute or so of silence. Amu nervously glanced around at all the gems on the wall. There was one empty spot, with a plaque under it. She could just make out what was written on it. Embryo.

"Well?" Shirgain asked. Amu had completely forgotten he was here too.

"She has pretty eyes. And she's very skinny too, which is good. Her hair is weird colored though. We'll have to do something about that. I like her sense of style. Her colors will be red, black, pink, and gold. Page Miki-kun, Ran-chan, and Suu-chan and get them to start advertisements and album work, choreography, and getting her outfits together. Oh, and get Miki-kun to work on her hair."

"Will do, Hikaru-sama. Is that all?" Shiragin asked as he pulled out his pager.

"Yes. You may leave now."

Amu and Shiragin walked down the hall back to Shiragin's office.

When Amu walked in, she saw that Ikuto had left. There was a small note on the couch. Amu picked it up and read it to herself, "Dear Amu, I had some urgent business to attend to. Hope everything went great with Hikaru. If it did... have fun putting up with Miki, Ran, and Suu. Heart, Tsukiyomi Ikuto. P.S. Yes, I let you slip whenever you were telling me about your past, but dont forget about your dare ~nya," and it was finished off with a heart.

Amu gasped when she remembered that she was still wearing the cat ears. Crap.

"Come on, Amu." Shiragin cooed as he lightly skipped out the door.

"Um, sure... Shiragin... ~nya."

Shiragin led Amu down different set of hallways until they reached a door with one-way glass, the way being on the other side. There light blue sign beside it that said "Miki."

Shiragin ushered Amu in to the room and shut the door behind her. There was a table, and a chair on each side. There were posters plastered along the back wall. There was also a large mirror along the side wall, and one last large poster on the front wall. Amu walked down over to a chair that said "sit here" in the plastic blue seat. So Amu sat. She glanced around at the posters and read one that said "Kick off your stilettos!" At that quote, a song popped in to Amu's head. She started to sing to herself, waiting for Miki to come in. After the second refrain, Amu was in her own world. She gave a loud scream when she felt something tap her shoulder. Amu very ungracefully slid out of the chair and landed hard on the linoleum floor.

"Well, you aren't very graceful."

Amu looked up to see a girl with short blue hair with a blue beret on. All her clothing consisted of different shades of blue.

"I'm Miki," she put her hand out to help up Amu, "And you're obviously Amu."

Amu shook her head and grabbed Miki's hand, "Wait... if you're a girl... Why did Hikaru call you Miki-kun ~nya?"

Miki gave Amu an exasperated look, "When I first applied here, he thought I was a boy because of my hair and how I acted. So he's called me Miki-kun ever since."

Amu shook her head, "So... What exactly am I meeting you for ~nya?" Amu sat back down in her chair and Miki sat in the one across from her.

"I will be designing your album covers, doing your makeup, and designing your clothes. Oh, and Hikaru said that I need to do something different with your hair color, so I'll be doing that too."

Amu nodded and Miki stood up and left the room. She returned a few seconds later with a pencil, a pen for inking, an eraser, and a large pad of paper.

"Okay, Amu, strike a pose!" she said as she quickly pointed her pencil at the flustered girl.

Amu quickly stood up, but couldn't think of anything to do after that.

Miki looked Amu over, assessing her weak and strong points. She smirked that Ikuto-like smirk that meant trouble, "I love your cat ears, Amu."

Amu blushed.

"Did Ikuto give them to you?"

A creepy feeling was filling up Amu's veins. She nodded.

Miki stood up from her chair, "Tell me, Amu..." Miki placed her hand on the table and swung her feet around and landed on the table in front of Amu. She grabbed the straps of Amu's shirt and pulled her closer to her face, "Do you like Ikuto?"

Amu violently shook her head no.

Miki sighed, "Good. So, since you've supplied this wonderful cat idea, lets get started."

"Cat idea... What ~nya?"

"You and Ikuto will be working side by side, so it only makes sense if Ikuto has a cat-girl with him since, you know, his CD is 'Black Lynx Lover.' Duh. So, basically, you'll be the girl in all of his videos, too."

Amu sighed. She had so much to say, but she wouldn't dare say "~nya" again.

"So strike a cute kitty pose!"

Just then the door flew open, "Wait, don't you need to decide if she's going to be an innocent kitty, or a naughty kitty?" Ikuto cooed as he silently shut the door behind him.

"Ikuto! What are you doing here ~nya!" Amu stomped her foot on the ground.

"Oh yeah... That... 'urgent business'... Didn't really exist. So I just sort of sat on the roof and stared at clouds. So then I got bored. And... Now I'm here. Good enough explanation for you, Strawberry?"

Amu blushed at the nickname, "Where did that come from... ~nya?"

"You mean 'strawberry?' I'm just experimenting with names," Ikuto smirked.

Amu scoffed.

Miki cleared her throat, "Well, Ikuto, that is a good question. What do you want, Amu?"

"Innocent!" Amu yelped.

"Naughty," Ikuto said cooly.

Miki sighed, "Okay, okay, I'll just call Hikaru-sama and ask him," Miki pulled out a sky blue cellphone and quickly dialed a number and pressed the phone to her ear. Amu could hear a muffled greeting on the other end, then Miki spoke, "Um, yeah. So we're trying to decide if Amu should be an innocent kitty or a naughty kitty. What do you think?" Miki nodded her head and listened to the muffled voice, "Okay, I think I can do that." Miki snapped the phone shut.

"Well?" Ikuto said.

"Hikaru-sama said that we should dress you in skimpy clothing that still suggests that you're innocent."

"Um, what ~nya?"

"Just... strike a cute pose, you'll see."

Amu put her knees together and rested her hand on them and leaned over, holding a peace sign on her fingers beside her face which wore a smile with a wink.

"Okay, Amu, I want you to take that hand thats on your knee and put it on your hip, and i want you to spread your legs instead of holding them together because right now it looks like you have to pee," Miki said as she sat down behind the desk, preparing her paper to draw.

Amu did as Miki suggested and stayed as still as she could. She watched as Ikuto walked behind Miki to look at the drawing. Amu blushed when Ikuto smirked and looked at her, his eyes examining the angles of her body up and down. She felt as if she was being purely checked-out by Tsukiyomi Ikuto. Amu felt light headed, trying her best not to fall over. She sighed in relief when Miki put her pencil down and motioned for Amu to come over and look at the drawing. Amu's eyes quickly scanned the drawing, and a blush covered her face. She was leaned over the same position, though she was wearing extremely short shorts and a strapless top that didn't cover her whole stomach area, and her legs were covered in fishnet stockings. She looked up to see Ikuto staring at her, waiting for her reaction.

When Amu didn't say anything, Ikuto cut in, "I really like it."

Amu blushed.

"Well, Amu, do you like it?"

Amu gulped, "Uh... Yeah, its great ~nya."

"Great!" Miki smiled, "Now we can get to work on your hair!"

"Wait, what are you going to do to my hair ~nya?" Amu put her hands on her head as if to protect her pink locks.

"Oh, we're just going to add and change some colors and things like that, maybe cut it into a different style."

"Um, okay ~nya. Sure," Amu put her hands by her sides again.

Miki led them into a different room with a chair, a mirror with lights, and lots of bottles containing different things in them. Miki sat Amu down in the chair and put a wrap around her so they won't mess up her clothes. Ikuto stood behind Miki, staring Amu in the eyes through the reflection just as they had before. Miki grabbed a brush and a black bottle. She opened it and brushed a black liquid into a streak of Amu's cotton candy pink hair and wrapped some tin foil around it. Then she did the same with red right behind the black, except not taking up as much space. Then she got a small brush and some shimmering gold color and put small streaks of gold in her hair, somewhat like highlights.

"This will have to dry for about 20 minutes. You and Ikuto talk, I'm going to take some designs to Suu to start on," and with that, Miki left the room.

"So, I really liked that picture Miki drew of you," Ikuto sat on the arm of her chair, leaning in close.

Amu backed off, "Yeah, no one is to see that ~nya."

"What ever do you mean, Amu-koi? That picture is the cover to your new album," he gave her a smirk.

Amu's eyes widened.

"Weren't you listening to her? Or were you too busy staring at me to listen?" Ikuto leaned in closer.

Amu stared him in the eye. A blush crept over her cheekes.

Ikuto chuckled and pulled away, resting his arm on the back of the chair.

"So," Ikuto said, not bothering to finish his sentence.

"So what ~nya?" Amu asked angrily, thinking he may be suggesting something.

"Oh nothing, just trying to think of something to talk about," he adjusted his position on the arm rest.

All was silent for a while, Amu just enjoying her time with Ikuto, and vice versa.

"Oh, I meant to ask you this earlier, but do you remember that song I was typing on the computer when you hated me?" Ikuto looked at her directly instead of through the mirror.

"Uh, yeah ~nya. Why ~nya?" she was careful not to touch her golden deyed hair to his dark clothing.

"What's your opinion on it?" he asked, wanting an honest opinion.

"Well," Amu thought it over, coming up with a sophisticated sounding critique, "It was meaningful, and it told a story, but I think that the chorus should be a bit shorter, and you should add a verse or two ~nya."

Ikuto thought it over. She was trying to hard to be sophisticated, "You're trying to hard to be sophisticated."

Amu stared at him. She scoffed, then proceeded to push him off the chair.

Ikuto landed on the linolium floor with a thud, "You know, I can feel pain."

"Oh really ~nya? Well, I'm pretty sure that was the point, so I think we're good ~nya," Amu crossed her arms.

Ikuto mellow dramatically crawled back over to the seat like a toddler, and rested her chin on the armrest, "At least you don't scratch like a cat."

Amu showed her long nails to Ikuto, a slightly evil grin on her face. Her eyes glinted murderously in the light as she moved her head to glare at the blue haired boy.

Chills ran down Ikuto's spine at Amu's expression. The excitement came too quickly for him to hide a smile on his face. He quickly stood up. "Now that... That is beyond on mean," he said as he started to walk near the door.

Amu smiled at her victory of finally getting Ikuto to leave.

Ikuto quickly turned around and stuck his head over the back of the chair, resting his pointed chin on Amu's shoulder, "Its exciting," he whispered, spilling hot breath all over her shoulder.

His breath gave her goosebumps.

Ikuto stood up and waltzed gracefully toward the make-up counter and hoisted himself onto its edge.

Amu stared at him and Ikuto stared back.

"Are you cold?" Ikuto asked.

"No ~nya," Amu glared at him. "Why do you ask ~nya?"

"You've got goosebumps," he smirked.

-  
A/N- Hey readers. First of all, I want to apologize for all the wait without telling you guys. The only reason I could upload the first three chapters within a few days was because I was on the road for 2 hours, then 2 more, then 2 more, then 7, then 3, then 7. Actually, the only reason I started writing this was because I was REALLY bored. So I'm just letting you guys know that I won't be able to update as often from now on... Second... I'm sorry for such an anti-climatic chapter and... well... I don't think this could even be considered a cliff-hanger... it is more like a... clothes hanger (: But I want to start the next chapter for when Amu gets home from EASTER, and she has to tell her parents about her new career and all that junk. AAAAANNNNNDDDD I had some GREAT inspiration today while I was trying to take a nap on the dock. Which didn't work by the way because it was WAY to windy out there and I had the music up too loud and I was too lazy to roll over and turn it off. And now you wonder how I've written this story. You'd be surprised how lazy I am... 3 words. COLD-MICROWAVABLE-SOUP. Yeah, I had a can of microwavable soup but was too lazy to microwave it for 1 minute. So I drank it cold. It made me sick later that day. Okay, I'm just rambling now... so yeah. Bye. Remember to R&R!


	5. DOA

Amu sighed as she walked home. Her body ached. Ran had put her through a full hour of coreography, and Suu made her stand with her arms spread out in the air for God knows how long. And she still had to explain to her mom about the highlights. Yes, her mom did know about her dream to be a singer, and that she had sent the application, but she had never told her that she had gotten accepted for a live interview and audition. Amu stuck her hand in her pocket and thumbed the paper that Ikuto had given her. Before she had left, she found Ikuto by the soda machine. She asked him for his autograph to give to Ami. Amu turned into her driveway, hesitating outside the door. Amu pulled the hood of her new EASTER hoodie over her head to hide the highlights (and the cat ears) until she told her mom. She walked inside and glanced into the living room. Ami was watching a Tsukiyomi Ikuto music video on TV, her mom was idly flipping through a magazine, and her dad was editing some photography on the computer.

"Uh, Mama? Can I talk to you for a second?" Amu added the "~nya" under her breath.

She watched as her mom looked up and said, "Sure, honey." Amu notice her dad glance at her suspiciously. He had that terrified, "Oh no. My daughter has a boyfriend," look on his face.

Amu and her mom walked to the kitchen to talk in private.

"Where'd you get that hoodie?" her mom asked cheerfully.

Amu pointed to the logo on the front, "Easter," she again added the "~nya" under her breath.

"Oh, why'd you go by there?" her mom leaned against the counter.

"Remeber that application I sent them... ~nya?"

Her mom nodded her head yes.

"They... asked me for a live audition, and I got accepted. I have a manager, and they recorded my first song, and-"

"Oh, my God, thats great honey!" Amu's mom exclaimed as she gave Amu a big bear hug, cutting her off from the most important part of Amu's explination.

"Mom," Amu said seriously.

Amu's mom stopped gushing and payed attention.

"I have the same manager as Tsukiyomi Ikuto... And, he wants to send us on tour already."

Her mom's eyes widened in surprise.

"How soon?" she asked.

"Next week. And... he wants to make it a world tour. So, our first stop will be America."

"Where will you go after that?"

"He isn't telling us. We won't know until we get our airplane tickets the day we leave."

"Wow..." Amu's mom thought it over, showing true concern.

"They said I'm really good. They really want me to go. They sent you an email with my first song in it. And Ikuto is going to help me write a few more before we go."

Amu's mom rushed to the computer. She motioned for Papa to get off, and logged into her email. She turned the volume up and smiled at Amu's choice in song.

"So you're asking for my permission to go?" Amu's mom asked without her eyes leaving the screen.

"Yes," Amu nodded, even though she knew her mom couldn't see it.

"I say yes, you can go."

Amu smiled. She knew that if her mom said yes, then it didn't matter what her dad said.

Amu walked back into the kitchen, "I need to show you something."

"What?" her mom asked.

"Well, remember how you said that the only reason you wouldn't let me get highlights in my hair was because it would be really, really expensive?"

Amu's mom nodded her head slowly, seeing what Amu was getting at.

Amu pulled her hood off, revealing a large streak of ink black going down a chunk of hair in the front, with a slimmer, ruby red streak behind it, and small golden streaks in random places around the rest of her pink hair.

"Oh, thats so beautiful, baby!" she started running the newly dyed locks through her fingers. "I'll go tell Papa for you, and how about you tell Ami."

Amu nodded and walked off to the living room. She crouched down beside her and waited for the music video to end, "Hey, Ami, guess what."

"Wha?" she asked in a high pitch voice.

"I got a gift for you," Amu smiled.

"Oooh! What 's it?" she yelped.

Amu reached into the pocket of her hoodie and pulled out a small white piece of paper. She handed it to Ami, who examined it, not knowing what it was.

"That, Ami, is an autograph from Tsukiyomi Ikuto himself," Amu winked.

Ami gave a loud gasp. Then a squeal of exitement, "You met Tsuyomi Ikuto?"

"Yep. Ami, I am a singer now. Like Ikuto. And Ikuto and I work together," she smiled.

Ami gasped yet again. "Amu! Can I meet him? Can I meet him? Can I? Can I? Can I?" she waved her hands in the air furiously.

Amu giggled at Ami, "I'll see what I can do."

Ami smiled, then looked back to the TV Happily.

Amu walked over to stand beside her mom, and listen to her dad give reasons why she shouldn't go. She inwardly winced when she heard "she's too young!" "She hasn't finished school yet!" and especially "She's my baby-angel!"

Amu sighed and looked at the clock. 8:56. Amu went upstairs and took her second shower for that day. She deffinatly felt like she needed one. She sighed again when she thought of exactly where she'd be going in America. She had expected New York or Las Vegas or some big city like that. Instead, they were going to a city in South Carolina called Beaufort. It was on the coast. Shiragin said that it had beaches, it had docks, and he said that there was something called "marshes" there. Amu had no idea what a marsh was. He also said that some family was letting them use their house to stay in so they don't have to pay to stay in a hotel. She never got around to asking Shiragin if her and Ikuto had to share a room or not. Though she could tell that he wanted them to, just to get his kicks. They would stay there for two days, then they would fly down to Florida to start their tour in Miami.

Amu groaned and dragged herself to her bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Who could blame her? She'd had a long day.

Amu kept her eyes shut. She was too lazy to open them against the wind. Somewhere near behind her, loud American music played on the radio. Strong winds blew wildly, tearing at her black shorts and her grey shirt. The sun shined brightly, warming the wooden dock she was laying on. She attempted to fall asleep, but the wind was too distracting. She opened her eyes and looked around from her position low on the dock. Tall grass, or something of the sort, blew wildly in the wind, creating ripples that looked like waves of deep green. The musty smell of the salt water and fluff mud filled her sense of smell. She smiled at the sight. It was as if nothing could go wrong here.

"Amu," she heard a distant voice call her name.

"Amu," the voice called again. She recognized it, but she couldn't put her finger on who's voice it was.

"Amu," it called once more. At this, Amu sat up, supporting her body by her arms, and looked in the direction of the voice. A foot or so in front of her were a pair of tan feet.

Amu followed the sight of the feet up to lean legs, then to long dark blue shorts, then to a shirtless torso, then a head she recognized all too much.

"Ikuto," she said his name, letting it slip lazily from her lips.

He stuck his hand out to her to help her up. She looked behind him. She saw the length of the dock, then the ocean. Then she looked back at Ikuto. Now she realized why he wasn't wearing a shirt. He wasn't wearing a shirt because his shorts were really a dark blue bathing suit. She lowered her gaze to his chest. She felt her whole body go warm. She blushed and took a step back.

"Where are you going, Amu?" Ikuto asked as he took a step forward, a devilish grin on his face.

Amu opened her mouth, but she couldn't speak.

Ikuto stepped closer and grabbed on to the hem of her shirt and started to lift it up.

"Stop that!" Amu yelled as she pushed her shirt back down. She pushed Ikuto down, and he landed roughly on the wooden dock.

He gave her a questioning look, "I thought you said you wanted to go swimming after resting for a bit."

It took a few moments for Amu to process what he had said. Swimming? Oh, of course! They were going to go swimming off the edge of the dock. Amu pulled the collar of her shirt away from her skin and looked down to see the top of her bathing suit instead of a bra. Amu gave a sigh of releif, "I'm sorry, I forgot that I had already put my bathing suit on."

Ikuto stood up and watched as Amu turned around to change.

Amu pulled her shirt up over her head. She tried to figure out how close she was to the end of the dock. She looked at the solid ground ahead of her. She was about ten feet out. She pulled off her black shorts, and hung her clothes over the wooden railing.

"Hey, Amu!" she heard Ikuto yell.

She turned around to see Ikuto leaning aginst the railing all the way at the end of the dock.

"I bet you're too scared to jump over the edge of the dock!" he yelled as he pointed to the railing at the end.

"No I'm not!" she yelled as she started to walk to the end of the dock.

"Then do it!"

"No!"

"You're scared!"

"No I'm not!"

"Then prove it!"

Those words echoed through her head. Suddenly she broke out in a sprint to the end of the dock. She glanced at Ikuto, who wasn't looking at her, but was staring intestly at a group of different colored planks of wood about 15 feet ahead of her. He smirked.

Amu looked back at to where she was running. She stepped on one of the darker planks of wood and everthing seemed to stop. The wood broke under her and she fell. She frantically grabbed on to the part of the dock that was still in tact.

"Ikuto!" she yelled.

She heard feet slowly approach her. Ikuto chuckled at her, then leaned down. He rested his hands on top of hers and wrapped his fingers loosely around hers. He lifted her up and held her over the middle of the break, her legs dangling over fluff mud and sharp oysters.

"Ikuto," she moaned, wanting him to help her up on to the safe part of the dock.

Ikuto chuckled at her, then dropped her into the muck.

Amu screamed as she fell about five feet. Not a scream from a fear of falling, but she saw all the oysters under her when she fell the first time, and she was terrified.

She fell into the mud, the muck splashing up around her, getting into her hair and everywhere else. She started to sink into the mud and lost her balance, falling forward. She opened her eyes and pushed herself back up. She looked around her, seeing blood covering the ground. Her blood. She inspected her body. She saw cuts all on the front of her hands from when she tried to break her fall. She had a cut on her upper thigh, and one on her stomach. There was also a deep gash she could feel on the bottom of her foot. Her heart was beating wildly.

"Goodbye," Amu heard Ikuto's voice above her.

She looked up, the sun's light blurring her vision. She put her bloody hand above her eyes, trying to block out the flaming orb.

She couldn't tell what she was seeing. Was that Ikuto? Was it Ikuto with blond hair or something?

It must have been the sun. Or the blood loss.

Ikuto blocked the sun with his body. He was now just a black figure to Amu, being able to see nothing but the outline of his body.

"Ikuto?" Amu said, in almost a whisper.

"Amu," he said her name.

It sounded different than she had ever heard him talk.

He sounded depressed.

He sounded excited.

He sounded angry.

He sounded guilty.

He sounded innocent.

He sounded like he knew exactly what he was doing to Amu.

"Amu," he said her name, it sounded slurred.

Amu breathed heavily. She needed help. Her cell was in her shorts, Ikuto wasn't helping, Shiragin was getting groceries.

"Ikuto," she pleaded, "Please, Ikuto." Tears streamed down her face, "Please help me."

"Goodbye," his deep voice echoed in the silence.

Amu's knees shook.

"Amu-chan."

Amu's heart stopped.

All was dark.

"Amu-chan."

It echoed through her head.

"Amu-chan."

Endlessly.

"Amu-chan."

That was Tadase's voice and Tadase's blond hair, not Ikuto's.

A/N- Okay, I'm just gonna let you know that I wont be able to work on the story at all next week. So it might be a while until I can get chapter 6 out. Haha... my cat is trying to attack my drawing. R&R (:


	6. Amu's Song

Amu shot up in a start, the covers that once covered her body falling onto the floor. She breathed heavily,

furiously looking around at her surroundings. She was in her room. She flung her hands in front of her face. No cuts, but

a few little white marks where she had been digging her fingernails into her palm during her nightmare. She looked at the

clock on her nightstand. It was five in the morning. She yawned. She had to go work on song writing with Ikuto at 10:30

this morning. She decided that she would try to get some more sleep then. She checked to make sure that the alarm was still

set at 8:00. She rested her head against the pillow and attemped to fall asleep. Thoughts and memories of the nightmare ran

through her head. Her nightmare had never been anything like that before. Ever. At around six in the morining, Amu managed

to fall aleep.

"Amu," she heard Tadase's voice again.

"Amu," the voice beckoned for her to come closer.

"Amu," she heard a tapping noise.

"Amu," the voice came closer.

"Amu," she felt something tugging at her.

"Amu," she tried to run, but she was at the end of a cliff.

"Amu!" the voice said more sternly.

She couldn't take it. She jumped the cliff, "Tadase!"

Amu's face hit the floor with a thud.

"Who's Tadase?" Amu heard a familiar voice ask from the bed.

"Ikuto! What are you doing here? Its..." Amu looked at the clock, "11:23... ~nya?"

"Yeah, you over slept, and so I came to come get you," he sat down on the bed and helped her up from the floor,

frowning at her at her choice in pajamas.

"How do you know where I live ~nya? And how'd you get in here ~nya? And what are you frowning at ~nya?" she put her hands on her

hips assertively.

"I read your application to find where you live, I climbed in through the window, and I'm frowning at your pajamas,"

he looked up at her.

"And why are you frowning ~nya?"

"Long-sleeved peach pink plaid with a collar and long pants to match? Those were born to be frowned upon," he

shrugged.

"Okay, well, I'm going to get dressed, so get out ~nya," she grabbed his shoulders and started to push him over the bed.

Ikuto retaliated by grabbing her elbows and pushing her back, causing them to get in to a playful pushing fight. Every so often, Ikuto would ease up and let Amu push him across the bed, then he'd push her back. Ikuto put his feet up to her chest to hold her away. He rested back on to Amu's bed, and pushed Amu away with his feet. She fought back strongly, pushing his legs against his chest. He grunted as he felt his chest being smooshed. Ikuto quickly grabbed Amu's hands and tackled her to the floor, holding her in place. She squirmed, trying to get free so that she could retaliate, but Ikuto's grasp was too strong. He tightened his grip around her wrists to a point that he could see the pain on her face.

"Okay, okay! Uncle ~nya!" Amu yelled.

Ikuto released his grip on her wrists and sat back on her bed.

"Now, get out so I can change ~nya!" she yelled and pointed to the window.

"Okay, okay," Ikuto put his hands up defensively, "I'll be waiting outside." Ikuto went out the full length window and waited on the balcony.

Amu changed in to a pair of black skinny jeans and some low-cut converse, and a red tank top, along with her purse and of course the cat ears she was tricked into wearing for another six days. She ran down stairs and found her mom in the kitchen and told her that she was going out to practice with Ikuto, and that she'd be back later. She jogged back up the stairs and went out to her balcony. She looked around. She didn't see Ikuto anywhere. She looked to see if he was down on the ground, then thinking that she was crazy. He couldn't have jumped from all the way up here. She started to walk back in to her room to see if maybe he had gone back in there. Just as she turned around, something flew down in front of her.

"Yo, looking for me?" Ikuto said.

"Ikuto? What are you doing on my roof ~nya?"

He rolled backwards off of the black shingled roof, landing neatly on the railing of Amu's balcony. It made Amu wonder if Ikuto ever took gymnastics as a kid.

"I was waiting for you," he walked across the railing until he was leaning against the wall in front of the white checker patterned wood and vines that was attached to the wall. He grabbed on to the wood with one hand, then he climbed about a quarter of the way down, then he jumped off the wall and landed neatly in the grass.

Amu looked down at him, amazed.

"Well, come on," he said to her, "Here, I'll catch you."

"No way ~nya!"

Ikuto chuckled, "Scaredy-cat."

Amu looked down at the ground under the stone balcony. It was a far way down. If she landed wrong, she could get really hurt.

"Hurry up," he said. He put his arms out to catch her.

Amu swallowed the angry curses that were about to come out of her mouth and climbed up on to the railing. She started to walk to the wall when she missed her step. She tried to regain her balance by flailing her arms around wildly, but she fell off to the side. She screamed as the plummeted through the air, and expected to hit the ground. Instead, she landed in Ikuto's arms. She opened her eyes and looked up at him innocently.

"Told you I'd catch you," he said.

"Oops."

Ikuto pulled her closer to him and started walking around to the front of the house.

"Ikuto! Put me down ~nya!" she yelled as she struggled to get away.

"Trust me, Amu. If I put you down, you'll fall over or something. I didn't think you were that ungraceful."

Amu pouted as Ikuto pulled her even closer. Amu was happy that it was summer so almost everyone in her neighbor hood was either at work or on vacation. That way, no one could see her. Ikuto carried her the rest of the way to Shiragin's office.

"Okay, I think you can put me down now ~nya," Amu glared at Ikuto.

Ikuto simply shrugged and dropped Amu on to the couch, then sat down beside her and grabbed his laptop.

"So, based on your album artwork and your overall attitude, I think that you should sing punk love songs."

"Punk love songs?" Amu repeated.

"Yeah, like... Depressing songs about love and things like that. Like a boyfriend cheating on you or a bad breakup. You'd sings songs sort of like the ones that Paramore sings. You know that band?"

"Yeah," Amu nodded her head. That sounded interesting. She'd never really thought of singing like Paramore.

"And so since you're just starting, you need your first song to be about something deep," Ikuto paused as he thought of an idea, "Such as rape."

"Rape? I'm not singing about rape!"

"Amu," Ikuto started delicately.

"What?"

"You aren't 'seeing' anyone right now... Are you?" Ikuto asked.

Amu blushed, "What? Why?"

"Because," Ikuto leaned in dramatically.

Amu blushed as she stared him in the eye.

"Well that's obviously a no, and I understand why too. I don't see how anyone would want to go out with you. You are so demanding."

Amu hit him rather hard against the side of the head.

Ikuto laughed and playfully hit her back, "What, did you think I was going to ask you out or something?"

Amu blushed.

"So, we'll make your song about rape," Ikuto pulled up Notepad on his laptop.

Amu sighed and nodded her head.

"Okay, so, here's the plot," Ikuto started.

"A plot? Isn't that for like, novels and stuff ~nya?" Amu asked.

"Well, yeah, but songs tell stories too. Usually."

Amu nodded. She understood. Sort of.

"So here will be your plot, you finally got to go out with the guy of your dreams, but on your first date, he tried to go too far, and he ends up taking you home and... Yeah. You get it so far, right?"

Amu nodded.

"So then the bridge will be sort of a rant where he thinks that he knows how he hurt you and that he is sorry, but he doesn't really know how much he hurt you and that sort of stuff. Understand?" Ikuto asked.

"Uh, yeah. Mostly ~nya." Amu nodded her head.

"Okay, where do you want it set?"

"Um... You mean like... what point of time ~nya? Like, either while it's happening or after it happened?"

"Now you're catching on," he said, waiting to start typing.

"I want it to be after she was raped, and she's reflecting back on it... And thinking about how she truly did love him, but she couldn't love him after what he did to her," Amu blushed and looked down at her hands that balled up on her lap.

"So it will start out after she was raped. How about a setting where she is reading through messages that she had sent to him on Facebook and stuff like that?"

"Um, sure ~nya," Amu nodded her head.

Ikuto picked up his laptop and placed it on Amu's lap.

Amu looked at him. She didn't know what she was supposed to do.

"I'm going to the restroom, you start writing," Ikuto stood up and headed for the door.

Amu stared down and the blinking courser. Thoughts started to flow into her mind. So many things to type and ways to start out this sad song appeared in her head in an instant. She blushed as she started to type. Her fingers fly across the light grey keys, making a tapping noise as every letter appears on the screen. Amu was so busy typing that she didn't notice Ikuto walk back into the room.

"So what do you have so far?" Ikuto asked as he scanned over what she had written. Amu stopped typing as Ikuto read and looked over what she had written.

I read through our old messages

I reminisce about our past

I make a list of blatant reasons

Of why our relationship didn't last

I opened up my heart for you

Gave my lock and key to you

So call me crazy but I truly

Thought I could believe in you

In a relationship on March 2nd

A first date at the skating rink

But I don't know why I was surprised

When I felt your hands all over me

I opened up my heart for you

Gave my lock and key to you

So call me crazy but I truly

Thought I could believe in you

Ikuto read over the lyrics a couple more times, thinking of what could be added. "Good start," he smiled at her. He put his hands behind his head and leaned back against the couch and smiled at the sound of quick typing continuing on beside him. After a few minutes, the typing ceased, and he felt a petite finger poke him in the ribs. He lazily opened one eye to see Amu staring right at him. She was blushing madly, and looked as if she was about to cry. He leaned forward and started to read over the lyrics.

Amu read the lyrics to a tune she had been working up in her head.

I read through our old messages  
I reminisce about our past  
I make a list of blatant reasons  
Of why our relationship didn't last

I opened up my heart for you  
Gave my lock and key to you  
So call me crazy but I truly  
Thought I could believe in you

In a relationship on March 2nd  
A first date at the skating rink  
But I don't know why I was surprised  
When I felt your hands all over me

I opened up my heart for you  
Gave my lock and key to you  
So call me crazy but I truly  
Thought I could believe in you

You forced yourself on to me  
And that was way too far  
Your hands should stay above my waistband  
I have no clue who you are

I opened up my heart for you  
Gave my lock and key to you  
So call me crazy but I truly  
Thought I could believe in you

I opened up my heart to you  
Gave my lock and key to you  
So call me crazy but I truly  
Thought I could believe in you

And you hurt me  
And you scarred me  
But you'll never know  
The damage you caused  
And you say you know  
The damage you caused  
But you don't  
And you'll never know  
The damage you caused  
And you'll never know  
How my heart was lost

I opened up my heart for you  
Gave my lock and key to you  
So call me crazy but I truly  
Thought I could believe in you

I read through our old messages  
I reminisce about our past  
I make a list of all the blatant reasons  
Of why our relationship didn't last  
Of all the reasons our relationship just couldn't last

And the one reason on that list  
Was that I gave my  
Lock and key to you

Ikuto's throat closed up as he analyzed the hidden meaning behinds the words. He tried to relax when he remembered it was all made up from her imagination. But that was hard when he noticed how Amu's hands were shaking, and how she refused to look back at the laptop after reading it. Ikuto struggled to speak. "A… Amu," his voice came out as a hoarse whisper, "Are you okay?"

Amu picked up the laptop and placed it on Ikuto's lap and dashed out of the room, a sob escaping her lips.

Ikuto stared after her as a single one of Amu's warm tears landed on his cheek.


	7. Don't Mention It Around Her

Ikuto sat on the couch for a few minutes, taking in everything that had just happened. He gazed blankly at the words typed up on the screen. He clicked the save button and saved the file under "Amu's ." He pushed himself off the short couch and started walking to the door to look for Amu.

First he checked the girls' bathroom, but he didn't find her there. He went to the elevators to see if she was there. He went to the front desk and asked if they had seen a pink-haired girl leave. They hadn't. He headed back up the elevators and looked around. He asked people walking through the halls if they had seen a pink-haired girl. Eventually, someone told him that they were on the elevator with a pink-haired girl. They had gotten off at level 6. Ikuto wondered what would be there for Amu on level 6. Then it hit him. That's the level that the recording studio is on. He rushed back to the elevators and went to level 6. He went into the recording studio and hid on the stairs, too keep out of Amu's sight. She saw a laptop on the desk that was open to an email account and it was hooked up to the printer they kept down there for legal documents and other things. He looked at the sound panel. The recording light was on, but no one was controlling the sound. He finally looked into the booth to see Amu singing.

Ikuto wanted to hear what Amu was singing. Then he remembered that Amu always sang with her eyes shut. He stealthily hid behind the desk and grabbed the headphones off the top and placed them on his head. He recognized the lyrics immediately. Those were the words to the lyrics she had just written. Her voice came out strongly and beautifully as she sang her heart out. He closed his eyes and his throat closed up as the words escaped her lips. It was even harder to listen to when she was singing it. He tried to pull himself together and tell himself it was all just in her imagination. And she had a great imagination. He composed himself and stood up from the desk as Amu started to finish her song. He stared at her and pretended that he wasn't as touched as he was by her song.

As Amu's song ended, she opened her eyes and was frightened to see Ikuto standing at the sound mixer with the headphones on. She quickly slid off the stool and ran out to the mixing station. Ikuto tried to keep her from reaching it, but she clicked the erase button and the recording light turned off.

"What'd you do that for?" Ikuto asked, accidently letting the anger slip out of him.

"I don't want anyone to hear that ~nya," she looked at him, tears lining her eyes.

"I heard it," Ikuto rested the large headphones around his neck.

"Yeah, and you aren't going to tell anyone. No one will know about that song except for us ~nya," Amu demanded as she poked Ikuto in the ribs again.

Ikuto put his hands up defensively, "Okay, okay. I won't tell anyone." Ikuto grabbed Amu's wrist and put her hand back by her side. Ikuto pulled out his cell phone and looked at the time, "Oh, I ran into Shiragin on the way here. He wants to talk to you. You better hurry."

"Okay, thanks, Ikuto," Amu said. Then she went back up the stairs and left.

Ah, her sweet voice. He hated that he had to betray it. But her song was so tear-jerking that he had to send it to his email and Shiragin's. Amu had left her email up, so he plugged in the jump drive that he had earlier plugged into the mixing panel into the laptop and sent the file to himself and Shiragin. He noticed that she only had a few emails in her inbox. He looked at the first one. She had made a new email account. He knew he shouldn't, but he clicked on the first email and looked at the account information. He memorized the information for later use. He quickly sent the emails and deleted them from the sent folder and turned off the laptop and left. He couldn't help but feel bad about disobeying Amu, but it was for her best interest that this song was heard, because it sounded so real.

Even though was made up.

Ikuto made his way back up the stairs. He saw Amu leave the girls' restroom and head to the elevator. Perfect. He rushed to the stairwell and jolted down the stairs back down to Shiragin's office and bursted in the door. He was filled with relief to see Shiragin sitting at his desk.

"Check your email," Ikuto said quickly. He watched anxiously as Shiragin opened up his email and clicked open a new message. It had the file of Amu's song in it. "Hurry and listen to it before she gets here."

Shiragin clicked on the file and downloaded it, saving it in a locked file on his computer just in case, then opened Windows Media Player. There were a few seconds of silence when Amu had turned on the recorder and was walking back into the booth. She cleared her throat, and started to sing.

Ikuto noticed how intently Shiragin was staring at the colors on the screen. He was drawn into the song, feeling the same overwhelming feelings Ikuto had before. Ikuto even felt them now. They were about half way through the song when he saw Amu through the window in the door. He sprinted over to the door and locked it. Shiragin had to hear the rest of the song. Amu looked angry, but she didn't know why Ikuto was locking her out of the room. Ikuto thanked God for sound proof glass windows. Then Amu tried to say something. He decided to joke with her. He put his hand beside his ear and leaned in closer to the glass, smiling at her. She repeated what she was saying. He still couldn't hear her, so he leaned in even closer. He pulled away and shrugged his shoulders. Then Amu said the words very, very slowly. Slow enough that Ikuto could read her lips. He made out each syllable as she said it, "Un-lock-the-door… ~nya." Ikuto shrugged and left over to Shiragin's desk. He grabbed a sticky note and a pen and wrote "Sorry. I can't," followed by a heart and stuck it to the window for her to see.

Amu sat down by the door and waited. A minute or so later, Ikuto unlocked the door and ushered Amu in. She looked at Shiragin who had a very serious look on his face.

"Are you sure you're prepared to go on this tour?" he asked.

Amu and Ikuto were both shocked by this question.

"Of course I am. Why would you ask that?"

Ikuto lightly elbowed her.

"~Nya," she sighed.

"I just wanted to make sure," he moved the slider for the song back to the beginning and turned the volume up so that Amu would be able to hear it.

Amu looked up at Ikuto who had a scared look on his face. Then she realized what the music was. So many thoughts went through her head. She wanted to hit Ikuto. She wanted to cry. She wanted to run away.

Amu opened her mouth to yell at Ikuto but was cut off when Shiragin said, "Amu, this song is very beautiful. With a few instruments added, we can play this on the radio. It's marvelous."

Amu looked back at him. He was completely serious. "Really?"

"Yes, it tells a beautiful story. Thank you for emailing it to me," he put the song on pause and smiled.

"What? I didn't…"

Ikuto smiled at her.

"I'm gonna get you ~nya," Amu said.

"Its okay, I have a copy of it too," Ikuto gave her a cat-like smile.

"God, Ikuto, I hate you," she crossed her arms.

Ikuto frowned, "I thought we already went over this. We're friends now. Remember?"

"Yeah, my friend that I temporarily hate."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Ikuto shrugged and looked back at Shiragin.

"Well I'm glad you're ready. Because I'm going to tell you where your second destination will be after Beaufort."

Amu and Ikuto perked up at this. Shiragin had been so set on keeping it a secret until they got in the air port to tell them where they would be flying to on each stop. The song must have put him in a good mood.

"After Beaufort, we will be flying to Nassau, in the Bahamas."

Ikuto gave a genuine smile at this. He hadn't been there in forever. Though, Amu didn't know where the Bahamas were.

"Come here, Amu," Shiragin started typing on the computer. "We'll be staying at the Paradise Island Beach Club. Here's they're website so you can show your parents later."

Amu looked at the computer screen. It had a picture of a large pool, and of white villas, and a sandy beach. Then Shiragin typed in another address and there was a picture of a large peach colored building. "What's that?" Amu asked as she pointed at the pink building on the screen.

"That's the Atlantis hotel. We aren't staying there. We're staying at the place with all the white villas. But Atlantis is right down the street, so we can walk down there and go to the water park."

"The water park?" Amu asked.

"Yep," Shiragin clicked on a link that showed a picture of rides at the water park.

Amu looked at the pictures, amazed. It looked so fun. Then Shiragin scrolled to a picture of a slide called "The Leap of Faith." Amu read the description to herself, "The Leap of Faith slide offers the daring and adventurous a 60 ft. almost-vertical drop from the top of the world-famous and iconic Mayan Temple, propelling riders at a tremendous speed through a clear acrylic tunnel submerged in a shark-filled lagoon." Amu stared at the picture. That thing was 60 feet high… She was not going down that. No matter what.

Ikuto walked up behind Amu and looked at the picture of The Leap of Faith. When he went a few years ago, he wanted to go on it, but Utau dragged him everywhere but, because she was scared of it. Maybe he'd make Amu go on it. Ikuto smiled. That would be fun.

"That's… really big," Amu said.

"Yep. Can't wait to see you go down it," Ikuto said, laughing at his own perverted innuendo that Amu obviously wouldn't get.

Amu blushed, "That's dirty."

"Wait, what?" Ikuto stared at her. "You know what that means?"

Amu looked back at him and covered her mouth. She blushed and made her way quickly to the door, "I just remembered that I was supposed to hang out with Yaya this afternoon at the beach. I'm pretty sure I'm not needed for anything… but text me if you need me." Then Amu ran out the door and to the elevators.

"Ikuto, I want to talk to you," Shiragin said.

Ikuto pulled a chair up in front of Shiragin's desk, "Yeah?"

"About the song that Amu wrote."

"That? Oh, that's just Amu's imagination. I mean, its not like she's been raped or anything. She would've told me."

"And why would she have told you?"

"Because we exchanged secrets. She told me about her brothers. One shot the other then committed suicide right in front of her," Ikuto tensed up.

"Ikuto," Shiragin started, "You can't write a song this deep and meaningful without having something to base it on. I think she may have had something like this happen to her in the past."

"What?" Ikuto was shocked. How could he be saying something like this? Of course Amu wasn't raped. If she was, well, he'd be able to tell. "You're lying."

"Ikuto, I'm not asking that you go and solve the mystery of the fact that she was raped or not, I just want you to be delicate about those things around her," Shiragin shut off his computer and started putting things in his drawer. "Are we clear?"

Ikuto looked at him, and Shiragin stared back.

"Are we clear?" he asked again.

Ikuto hesitated, "As ice."

"Good."

Ikuto didn't say anything. He just stood up and put the chair back to where it was before and walked out the door without a word.

A/N- So a few people were asking about the song in the last chapter. I just wanted you to know that it's not a real song. I wrote it. Not exactly for the fanfiction, but I thought it would fit nicely here. So yeah.


	8. Aviators and A Lock

Amu went to the elevator and pressed the "L" button. The doors got close to closed, when a hand stuck in between, making them open back up. Ikuto stood in front of Amu, on the other side of the doors.

"What?" Amu asked.

Ikuto hesitated. He just stared at her. He didn't know why he was chasing after her. He didn't care that she was raped or not. Because he knew she wasn't.

Amu gave an exasperated sigh, "What ~nya?" she repeated.

Ikuto shook his head, "What? Oh, that. You can stop with the '~nya' and the cat ears thing," Ikuto said, then went back to staring. He couldn't remember why he rushed after Amu. He just stepped into the elevator and waited for the doors to close. "You said you were going to the beach with your Yaya friend, right?"

"Um," Amu hesitated. She had lied about that. Yaya had asked her if she wanted to go, but she said she didn't feel like it. "Yeah, we're going. Why?"

"Can I tag along?" Ikuto asked. He didn't know why. He wanted to keep an eye on her. Maybe he had her all wrong.

"What?" Amu was taken back. Ikuto wanted to go to the beach with her and her friend? Wasn't he bothered by the fact that her friend was probably going to be fangirl attacking him the whole time? "Um… I don't see why not, but I should warn you that Yaya is a huge fangirl."

"So's my sister. I'm used to it," he shrugged, "So can I come?"

"Sure," Amu said.

They rode the rest of the way down the elevator in silence. When they got back down to the lobby, Amu started walking to the bathrooms, while Ikuto walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" Ikuto asked.

"Oh, um, I have to use the restroom," Amu blushed.

"You just went ten minutes ago," Ikuto retorted.

"I… uh," Amu thought of something, "I was only checking my hair! But I want to go before we go to the beach. I hate the bathrooms there."

"Okay then, sure. Though, we are stopping at your house to get your stuff anyway." Ikuto leaned against the wall and waited for Amu.

Amu hurried into a stall and pulled out her cell phone. She clicked through her contacts until she got to Yaya's number. "Are you still up for the beach?" she typed.

She soon got a reply that read "DEFFINATLY!"

She typed back, "Meet me at the beach in 30 minutes." Then she left the restroom and started on her way back to her house.

When they turned on to Amu's street, Amu remembered what Ami had asked her. "Ikuto, I just remembered. My little sister wants to meet you."

"Your little sister?"

"Yeah, her name's Ami. Remember when I had you write that autograph yesterday for her?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember her. So she wants to meet me. I'll be sure to meet her while you're getting your things together."

"Wait… What are you going to wear?" Amu asked. "You don't have a bathing suit or anything to wear, do you?"

"Its okay, I've got a plan."

They chatted all the way back to Amu's house. Amu walked in and Ikuto waited to walk in until Amu was half way up the stairs to her room.

"Hello?" Ikuto asked loud enough that Ami would be able to hear him from the living room. He heard a loud, high pitched gasp and saw a small girl come rushing from around the corner. Her face was all smiles when she saw him standing in the doorway. She rushed to him and squealed.

"Mama, Papa! Tsuyomi Ikuto's here!" Ami screamed as she hugged Ikuto around the legs.

"It's pronounced 'Tsukiyomi Ikuto,' Honey," Ami's mom said as she followed her to the hallway.

Ami's mom invited Ikuto to sit on the couch while he waited, so he and Ami chatted, and Ami's dad listened in. They talked about his music mostly. And what it was like to be famous. And they talked about Hoshina Utau, who Ami was also a big fan of.

Amu soon came back down the steps, carrying a medium sized bag that held a water bottle, a towel, sunscreen, some money, and a change of clothes. She was wearing a white cover-up that didn't cover much past her thigh, a black two piece bathing suit, and some flip flops.

"Wait," Amu's dad spoke from the computer, looking at Ikuto suspiciously, "Where are you guys going?"

"To the beach," Ikuto said.

"What?" Amu's dad rushed over to Amu, "You're going to the beach alone with an 18 year old boy? Do you know how many hormones are coursing through his veins at this very moment?" He shook her by her shoulders wildly.

"I'm right here, you know," Ikuto said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Amu put her hands on her dad's wrists to stop him from shaking her any further, "Its okay, Papa. Yaya's going too." Amu's cell phone chimed with the sound of a text. She took it out and read it, then put it back in her pocket on her cover-up, "Yaya just texted me. Rima and Nagihiko are going too."

Amu's dad looked at her as he thought it over, "Okay, okay, go. But I want you back by dark."

"Okay, Papa. I'll be back before 8 then. See you later," she waved to them as she walked to the door.

"I guess I'm leaving too," Ikuto stood up, "It was nice to meet you," he said to Ami and ruffled her hair before leaving with Amu.

They talked more about random things, and about their tour and about Beaufort. Then Amu asked again about what Ikuto was going to wear to go swimming.

"You'll see. We're almost there," Ikuto said as he turned left.

"What? We aren't close to the beach yet. And the beach is this way. That's the way to the shopping district."

"Come on," Ikuto motioned for her to walk with him.

Amu followed him into the shopping district. They walked past many sets of doors before Ikuto grabbed Amu's wrist and led her into a large clothing store. Amu didn't bother look for the name, they all had the same things.

Ikuto took the long way around to the men's department to avoid as many people as he could. He went to the bathing suit section and quickly scanned the different colors and designs for one he liked. Amu didn't even get a chance to see it before he disappeared into the changing room. She watched as his jeans flung over the edge of the door, followed by his black t-shirt. Then he stepped out of the changing stall and presented himself to Amu. The bathing suit that he had picked went right to the top of his knees. It was brown with burgundy red swirls. Or maybe it was burgundy red with brown swirls. That didn't matter much. Amu noticed his boxers sticking out the top of the trunks. They were mostly black, but they had small white glass prisms on them. There looked like a ray of white light going in one side, then a rainbow coming out the other. Then she remembered who that was for. Ikuto was wearing Pink Floyd boxers. She would never have expected that.

Amu noticed the trail of dark blue hairs that led from his belly button to the top of his boxers. She felt her body go warm and she blushed when she looked back up at his chest. Ikuto was so skinny. But he wasn't like most skinny boys. Most skinny boys, you could see their ribs and everything, and their bones. But he was skinny, but with enough muscle that you didn't see every single bone in his body. She could see where his hip bones emerged from his boxers, and she could see the very bottom rib over his abs. She blushed.

"Amu?"

Amu didn't answer. Her mouth was dry.

Ikuto noticed that Amu was staring at his Pink Floyd boxers. He smirked, "Hello? Is anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is anybody home?"

Amu didn't move. Her blush deepened.

Ikuto put his hand on her chin and lifted her face back up. He put his face down, close to hers, "My face is up here, Strawberry."

Amu blushed at the name.

"Anyways, I was going to ask if you liked my bathing suit, but I guess you do, so I guess I can change back now," Ikuto said as he went back into the stall.

Amu took that time to regain herself. Soon, Ikuto would come out of there, fully clothed, and everything will be normal again. And that happened. Ikuto came out of the stall with his jeans and shirt on, and he had the bathing suit hung on the hanger in his hand.

"Let's go," he said. Ikuto started walking back to the front, then quickly turned around and started going the other way.

"Where are we going now?" Amu asked as she turned around with him.

"Utau stole my last pair of sun glasses, and I've been meaning to get some more, and I just remembered," Ikuto walked to the sunglasses stand right beside the women's jewelry. He looked at pairs of sunglasses, and Amu decided to look at jewelry while she waited. Ikuto walked back to Amu, with a pair of Aviators in his hand. "What are you looking at?" Ikuto asked. He followed her gaze to a necklace. It was a small solid gold chain, with a small solid gold pendant that was in the shape of a lock, and had a clover encrusted in it with diamond. "You like that necklace?" Ikuto asked.

"Yeah," Amu said, "I've seen it here before, but Mama said it was too expensive."

Ikuto looked at the price tag. It wasn't too extremely expensive. "Do you want it? I'll buy it for you," Ikuto said as a cashier came over to them.

"What?" Amu blushed and looked up at Ikuto. "No, you don't have to do that."

"Can I help you?" the woman asked.

Ikuto was glad to see that the woman was well into her thirties. Just one less autograph he'd have to sign today. "Yes," he placed his Aviators on the table, "I'd like these sunglasses, and that Humpty Lock necklace down there," he pointed to it through the glass.

"Oh, nice choice," she said as she leaned down to unlock the glass case.

"Ikuto," Amu whispered, "I said you didn't have to get it for me."

"But you didn't say I couldn't," he smirked.

Amu blushed.

The cashier put the sunglasses and the necklace in a small bag together and swiped Ikuto's credit card, then gave the all items to back to him. Then Amu and Ikuto walked back to the front of the store and bought the bathing suit. When they got back outside, Ikuto took out the sunglass and placed them over his eyes, and took out the necklace. He was about to give it to Amu, but then put it back in the bag, "You can gave this later. You don't need a solid gold necklace to go to a beach."

"Ikuto," Amu said shyly.

"Hn?" he said in reply.

"Thanks… For the necklace," she blushed.

Ikuto smiled, "My pleasure."

Amu's phone chimed. She pulled it out and checked another text. She read it out loud for Ikuto to hear, "It's from Yaya. It says 'Hey Amu, I'm arguing with my parents. I won't be able to make it for another 45 min. Sorry. See you then.'"

"Well then," Ikuto started, trying to think of something to do, "You haven't had lunch yet, have you?"

Now that Amu thought of it, she was pretty hungry. She had overslept, so she hadn't eaten any breakfast, and she hadn't had lunch yet. "I guess I'm hungry. We could go have lunch somewhere while we wait."

"Great," Ikuto said, "So where do you want to eat?"

Amu looked around, "I don't know. Just anywhere. But I feel like eating ramen. What about you?" she asked him.

"Ramen's good with me," Ikuto pointed down the street, "There's a place down there. Lets go."

They walked down the street to the restaurant. A few older men and women stared at Ikuto, trying to get a look at his eyes behind his Aviators. They weren't sure is it was him, or if It was just some kid that looked like him. So no one said anything. They went into the shop and got sat down at a tall table by the window. Ikuto noticed that their waitress was a girl around his age, so he told Amu what he wanted and turned his head to the window so the waitress wouldn't see his face and recognize him.

When the waitress came around, Amu ordered for the both of them. When the food came back, Ikuto looked back at Amu, hoping he was safe. Surprisingly, no one came to his table to ask if it was him. He was so relaxed then. The sunglasses were doing wonders for him. He never wanted to take them off. When they got done, Ikuto gave Amu the cash for the meal, and she paid it up front, then they left back for the streets.

Ikuto glanced at his watch, "Well that killed about 15 minutes. And we're only 5 minutes away from the beach. I guess we could just stay at the beach alone for 10 minutes," he grabbed her wrist and started guiding her to a kiosk on the side of the rode.

"I don't know… Papa doesn't really want me alone with you, you know?" Amu blushed.

"I think its okay. I'm not going to rape you or anything, I promise," he smiled at her. "Now what flavor did you say you liked best? Red bean?"

Amu looked up and realized that they were at a taiyaki stand. "Oh, yeah, I like red bean. And you like chocolate, right?"

"Yep," Ikuto said. He ordered one chocolate taiyaki and one red bean taiyaki from the old man at the kiosk. He handed the red bean one to Amu, and flipped his upside down and started eating from the tail.

"You're starting at the tail?" Amu asked as she took small bites out of hers as they walked back toward the beach.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothings wrong with it, I've just never seen anyone eat it like that," Amu shrugged.

They chatted the all the way to the beach, and threw their trash in the trashcan right outside the beach. Amu went out on the beach to set up towels and stuff, while Ikuto changed into his bathing suit in the restrooms. Amu sat down on her towel and waited for him. She heard the muted sound of feet in the sand coming up behind her. She turned around to see Ikuto again. He was wearing his new bathing suit, he was holding his jeans, his shoes, and his socks in his hands, and he had his shirt flung around his neck.

Amu couldn't stop staring at him, just like before.

Ikuto smirked. "Oh, Amu, stop staring," he crouched down and got close to her face, "I'll start blushing."

Amu blushed and pulled her face away. She knew Ikuto wouldn't start blushing. He was just teasing her for how much she blushed.

Ikuto put his hands behind his head and laid down in the sand next to Amu. He had forgotten to buy a towel. Oh well, it didn't matter. It was just some sand. He noticed Amu was taking off her cover-up. Even though he knew it was just a cover-up, and she was wearing a bathing suit underneath, he decided to play with the thought in him mind a little bit. He smiled. Then she had her cover-up all the way off and folded up beside her, and his mind party ended.

Amu stood up and poked Ikuto in the stomach, right above his Pink Floyd boxers, with her big toe, "Hello? Is anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is anybody home?"

Ikuto chuckled at her quote, and retorted with his own, "I've become comfortably numb."

"Well then, I guess you don't want to go get in the water," Amu said.

In return, Ikuto quickly slid one of his hands out from behind his head and stuck it out in Amu's direction above him, "Help me up."

"You're so lazy," Amu said as she grabbed onto his large warm hand. She grounded her feet in the sand. She started to pull, but the sand wasn't the sturdiest of surfaces. She fell down beside him, kicking up sand everywhere.

They both laughed. Then they both stood up. Right when they were about to leave, Amu's cell phone chimed at the sound of another text. Ikuto waited while Amu picked it up and read it to herself.

Amu dropped the phone. She didn't move.

"Amu?" Ikuto asked, somewhat worried.

Amu didn't say anything. She just sat back down on her towel. She pulled her cover-up back on over her body. She seemed to be fretting over how short it was. She pulled out her other change of clothes. She regretted packing a halter top and a skirt. Amu looked up at Ikuto and blushed. She looked over at his clothes on the ground. She grabbed his jeans and started pulling them on over her legs.

"Uh, Amu, those are my pants," Ikuto crouched down in front of her.

"I'm just borrowing them until we leave," she said.

Ikuto looked at her. His pants were many sizes larger than her. The hems on the legs were almost a foot longer than her feet were inside his pants.

"Amu, what's wrong?" he asked.

Amu just shook her head.

Ikuto noticed Amu's cell phone laying in the sand a foot or so away from when she dropped it.

He picked up her phone and read the opened text from Yaya on the screen to himself.

"Guess what! Tadase's coming to the beach with us too!"


	9. The Secret: Revealed?

"Tadase," the name rang through Ikuto's mind. Then he realized that that's the name that Amu shouted when she woke up from her nightmare this morning.

"Amu," Ikuto leaned in close to her and spoke in a very quiet and serious tone, "Who's Tadase?"

Amu shook her head at Ikuto and pulled her knees up to her chest. She crossed her arms over her legs and put her head down.

"Amu," Ikuto said more sternly.

"He's just…" Amu hid a single tear that fell from her cheek from Ikuto, "A friend."

Ikuto put a hand on Amu's shoulder, "Then what's wrong?"

Amu just shook her head and pushed Ikuto's hand off her shoulder. They sat there in silence for a few minutes until they heard Yaya's loud talking from the entrance to the beach behind them.

"Your friends are here. Who's who?" Ikuto glanced back at them.

"Yaya has pigtails, Rima is blond, and Nagihiko is a guy," Amu said quickly in one breath.

Ikuto nodded, even though Amu couldn't see. He watched as Yaya came running ahead of everyone.

"Hey, Amu!" She stood in front of Amu, "Who's thi–Tsukiyomi Ikuto?"

Ikuto winced as Yaya screamed his name, "Quieter, will you? We aren't the only people on the beach. I want to attract as little attention as possible."

Yaya blushed, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Ikuto brushed a black lock of hair from Amu's face and put it behind her ear.

"What… What's wrong with Amu?" Yaya asked.

"I don't really know. She won't tell me. Just go ahead and play or something," Ikuto shooed her away.

Soon after, Rima walked up. Ikuto looked up at her. She was so tiny, you could barely see her behind the big beach ball she was holding.

"What's wrong with Amu," she asked in a quiet voice.

"I don't know," Ikuto said.

"You better not have done anything to hurt her," Rima glared at him.

"Ah, no. I didn't. You don't have to worry about that."

"Good. And if you ever do, I'll kill you," Rima continued to glare until she walked away to join Yaya at the shore.

Next to approach was Nagihiko. He crouched down beside Amu, and put his hand on her other shoulder. He gave Ikuto a knowing look before he stood back up and went down to the shore with Rima and Yaya.

More people began to file in to the beach, sending suspicious glances at Ikuto. He pulled his shirt back on and placed his Aviators back over his eyes. Ikuto tensed up when a boy with blond hair came up and crouched down in from of Amu.

"Ta-Tadase-kun!" A thick blush covered Amu's cheeks.

"Is something wrong, Hinamori-san? Why aren't you out swimming with the others?" He barely noticed Ikuto was there.

"I… Just don't feel like it, you know," Amu shrugged. She was a terrible liar.

"I take it you're Tadase?" Ikuto glanced up at him.

The blonde-haired boy looked back with his red-violet eyes, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't even notice you there. I'm Hotori Tadase. And you must be Tsukiyomi Ikuto, correct?"

Ikuto nodded his head.

Then a man about Ikuto's age came and stood behind Tadase. He looked exactly like Tadase.

"Who's this?" Ikuto asked, pointing to the man behind Tadase.

"Oh, this is my older brother, Hotori Tsukasa," Tadase stood up as he introduced him.

Tsukasa stuck his hand out for Ikuto to shake it. Ikuto reluctantly took it, as not to look impolite, "I'm Tsukiyomi Ikuto."

"_The_ Tsukiyomi Ikuto?" Tsukasa looked at him, astonished. "What are you doing here then?"

"Oh, did I forget to tell you?" Tadase looked up at Tsukasa. "Amu texted me last night, she went to EASTER and they gave her a singing contract. She's going on tour with Tsukiyomi Ikuto next week."

"Really?" Tsukasa asked rhetorically. "I'm so proud of you, Amu," he bent down and ruffled her hair.

Amu blushed and pulled away from his hand.

Tsukasa laughed, "Oh, you're so cute, Amu. Teenage girls are always trying to keep their hair straight no matter what."

Then Tadase and his older brother left.

"Amu, tell me. What's wrong?" Ikuto asked.

Amu just looked back at him and blushed at how close he was.

Ikuto sighed, "Okay, come on. Let's take a walk." Ikuto stood up and put his hand down for Amu to pull herself up.

She wrapped her small hand around his and pulled herself up.

"Well that worked a lot better than last time," Ikuto said.

Amu just smiled a bit.

Ikuto grabbed Amu by the wrist, "This way. I know a place with no people."

Amu jogged behind Ikuto to catch up with his long, quick strides. Ikuto had a hold of one hand, and the other was used to keep Ikuto's large pants up around her waist.

Ikuto took her through a trail in the woods. She winced as she stepped on pointy leaves and thorns, but Ikuto didn't miss a beat. They came out of the woods to a beachfront with soft white sand and a calm shore. Amu looked around. Across the beach, there were toppled trees and large rocks. Ikuto let go of Amu's wrist and she walked around the beach.

"How about we trade pants," Ikuto suggested.

Amu looked back at him and blushed, "You're wearing a bathing suit."

"Yeah, I'll give you my bathing suit and you give me my pants back. My bathing suit has a string in it so you don't have to hold it up all the time, and it's shorter."

"Yeah, but all you have on under that is boxers. I have a bathing suit on under your jeans," Amu said.

"Amu, we're going to be on tour together, and chances are, that Shiragin's gonna make us share a room. You're gonna see plenty of me in my boxers."

Amu blushed. "Ugh, fine," she undid the button and zipper on Ikuto's jeans. She took them off and tossed them playfully at Ikuto's face.

Ikuto smirked and took off his bathing suit and tossed it at Amu's face in return. Amu pulled the bathing suit away and suddenly regretted it. In front of her was Ikuto in his t-shirt and boxers. She blushed at the Pink Floyd printed garment. Amu sighed to herself when Ikuto's boxers soon covered by his dark wash denim jeans. Amu then blushed as she pulled on the burgundy and red bathing suit. She pulled the strings tightly around her small waist and tied them tight.

"There, and there," Ikuto said as he shrugged and motioned for Amu to take a look around the beach.

She stuck her hands into the pockets of her cover-up as she trekked along the beach. She came to a large fallen tree with large sturdy branches. She crawled onto what was the trunk of the tree, and started to climb across it. The tree Amu had chosen was half way out into the water. She climbed onto branches and across the trunk until she found a sturdy branch to sit on, about 20 feet out on the water, and 30 feet high. The branch that she chose to sit on had another branch directly above it for her to put her arms over. Ikuto crawled up behind her, sitting with her on the branch too. They looked out at the horizon in silence. The reflection from the mid-day sun danced on the rippling water to a tune that no one could hear. Amu swung her bare feet through the air.

"So what's bugging you?"

Amu crossed her arms on the limb above the one she was sitting on, "Nothings bugging me. Why do you say that?"

"Well, you refused to write a song about rape, then when you finally did write the song, you started crying about it, and as soon as I made a dirty joke, you decided to leave. And now you freak out and put my pants on when you get a text that says that Tadase was coming to the beach with us," Ikuto shrugged.

Amu raised an eyebrow at him, "What are you saying?"

Ikuto gave Amu a serious expression, "I'm _asking_ what you keep freaking out about. What happened that you haven't told me about?"

Amu glared at him, "You know, we've only known each other for two days. I don't have to tell you every little detail of my life. You act like you've known me since I was Ami's age!"

Ikuto gave an exasperated sigh, "Amu, listen. I'm not trying to sound invasive, but we're going to be hanging out a lot in the near future. We'll be going on tour together, singing on stage together, sight-seeing together, and even sharing a room together. I'm going to find out sooner or later, and its best for both of us if its sooner."

Ikuto stared at Amu intensely. He could see his distorted reflection in her golden orbs as she thought of what to say.

Amu blushed.

"Amu," Ikuto said her name in a low voice.

Amu started to tear up again.

"Tell me."

Amu shook her head.

"Why won't you tell me?" Ikuto asked.

Amu put her head on her arms, "I'm not allowed to."

"Why not?"

"Because they said I can't," Amu said as a tear fell from her eye.

"'_They?_'You mean there was more than one?" Ikuto asked.

Amu blushed madly, "No, no! That's not what I meant!"

Ikuto sighed in relief, although, he was slightly upset. He thought he was getting somewhere, "Amu, please just tell me what happened."

"No, I can't," Amu shook her head.

Ikuto sighed. He let the silence draw out a bit. He watched Amu closely. Her tears stopped. Her cheeks were a normal color. She picked at the bark on the tree. She pulled off a long strip and rolled it up.

"I wonder how much it would hurt to fall from here," Amu said. She balled up the bark and tossed it out into the water, watching as it made a plop that was too quiet to hear from where they were.

"A lot," Ikuto said, "So don't fall."

Amu laughed. Ikuto watched her as she gazed across the waters. Clouds drifted in front of the sun and made the breeze that blew give them goose bumps.

"Are you cold?" Ikuto asked.

"Yeah, just a little bit," Amu said, rubbing her bumpy arms.

"Well, I'd wrap my arm around you in a completely un-romantic intended but slightly perverted, just to get you blushing, way, but you seem sort of irritated with me. So I won't," Ikuto shrugged.

There was silence.

Amu scooted over and wrapped her arms around Ikuto, stealing his warmth. Ikuto smiled his cat-like smile as he put his hand lightly on Amu's back.

They sat there, in that tree, stealing each other's warmth while the sun hid behind the clouds, for quite a while. They talked little, and just shared a moment.

"Amu," Ikuto said quietly.

Amu giggled to herself, being to feel the vibrations of her name on his chest, "Yeah?"

"You said you weren't allowed to tell anyone what happened, right?"

Amu nodded her head.

"_Who_ said that?"

Amu blushed. She didn't think Ikuto would hit her with that question.

"Tell me, Amu," Ikuto asked again.

Amu blushed and balled her hand up on Ikuto's chest, "Tadase-kun."

"Amu," Ikuto grabbed on to her arm, "What did Tadase do to you?"

"I already told you I can't tell you," Amu said, her eyes starting to water.

Ikuto pulled away from Amu. He looked at her. He couldn't tell what he was doing. Amu was right. They had only known each other for two days. He had become too attached. He stared at her, trying to think of something to say. He had the same feeling come over him as when they were on the elevator earlier today. He slowly shook his head. He moved himself away from Amu and climbed back down the tree. He started walking back to the woods, where they came out from the trail. Then he walked back and leaned against the tree. Amu came hurrying after him. She started down the tree, when her foot slipped. She screamed as she plummeted through the air.

She landed in a warm pair of arms which instinctively pulled her closer to his chest. She opened her eyes to see Ikuto. She tried to read him. He didn't have the same caring expression he had earlier. He looked at her with cold eyes, just like when they had first met. He put her down on the sand.

"You need to stop taking the quick way out of high places," he said.

Ikuto started to walk away from her, going back to the tree line to leave the beach.

"Ikuto!" Amu shouted after him.

Ikuto stopped walking.

"I… I know what you're thinking," Amu said quietly.

Ikuto didn't say anything.

"Tadase… He didn't rape me."

A/N- Hey guys. Nice chapter, eh? I have a bit of sad news for you guys. School starts back soon, so I'm going to be a lot busier than I am during the summer. So starting today, I'm only going to update every Sunday afternoon. That gives me time to spread out my writing time, and also, you guys will always know when a chapter is going to be out. So my next update will be in a week. Expect a good chapter; I have a whole week to write it. Thanks for reading, and remember to R&R (because we all know that's my FAVORITE part of fanfiction)!


	10. Tapping

Ikuto turned around to look at her, his stone eyes looked right through her. "Why would I care," Ikuto shrugged, "Like you said, we've only known each other for two days. We aren't friends yet. We're just partners."

Amu watched as he started to walk to the tree line, the veered right to some damaged trees. She watched as Ikuto looked up at a branch of a healthy, living tree about a few feet above him. He jumped straight up and wrapped his fingers skillfully around the branch as if he was a trained gymnast. He pulled himself straight up to the branch, locking his elbows as he pulled himself up to his waist, then pulling one foot over, then the other. He sat up on the branch and closely examined the parade of marching ants on the side of the trunk.

Amu gave a sigh and walked over to the tree. Only then she realized how high he was. She looked around until she found a long stick, about half as tall as her, and poked Ikuto in the foot. She poked him several times before he pulled his foot higher and looked down at her with his dark blue cat eyes.

"Seriously, PMS much?" Amu said. She walked around the tree, examining the different ways to climb up. She finally found a route that suited her, and started climbing. She grabbed onto a small branch, and started to pull herself up. She scraped her feet against the trunk, trying to find a foothold. Soon enough, she had pulled herself up onto the branch. She grabbed onto the next branch. As she wrapped her hands around it, her feet slipped from the branch below. The branch snapped from under her, and was gone in an instant. "I-Ikuto!"

Ikuto looked down behind him as if he hadn't noticed that the branch had broken at all, "You know, it's a lot easier to climb when you have somewhere to put your feet."

"I had somewhere to put my feet," Amu grumbled, "It broke."

"Okay... And? Why are you yelling my name?"

Amu squinted at him angrily. Her mouth pulled into a tight frown, "Could you help me up there, please?"

"I... Guess I could," Ikuto said as if it was the worst thing in the world.

There were a few seconds of silence while Amu stared up at Ikuto's back as he figured out how to get her up to the branch.

"How much do you weigh?"

"What?" Amu gripped on tighter to the branch.

"Ah, never mind. I'm sure I can pick you up. I've done it before. This may just be harder..."

Amu blushed, "H-How do you plan to get me up there?"

"Are you sure you want to come up here?"

"Yeah?"

More silence.

Amu almost let go of the branch, she was so startled. Ikuto's face was a few inches in front of hers... but upside down. She looked up at the branch. He had swung backwards and he was hanging by his legs from the branch.

Ikuto grabbed her by the sides of her chest, under her arms, and started to pull her up along with himself.

"What are you-Ah!"

Ikuto lifted Amu over himself and rested her on his lap.

"H-Hey! I can sit down by myself!" Amu blushed.

Ikuto gave her a serious look, "Nope, the branch is too thin on one side, and the bark is rotting from the bottom on the other side. So there's nowhere else for you to sit," Ikuto wrapped an arm around her.

Amu blushed.

"So why'd you want to come up here so bad?"

"It's because-"

"It's because you couldn't resist sitting on my lap, isn't it," he shot a serious glance at her.

"W-What?" A deep pink blush spread across Amu's face almost as dark as the highlights in her hair, "No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

Ikuto smirked at her reaction to his joke, "So why are you up here?"

Amu blushed. This time not because of embarrassment, but because she was nervous, "Ikuto, we..."

"We...?"

Amu didn't know what to say next. She had lost her train of thought.

Ikuto waited ever so patiently.

"Ikuto... We're just friends, I have a right to keep secrets about my past and everything. And of course, that means you do too. For example, I can tell that something is... _wrong_ with you. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to ask about it."

Ikuto looked at her with a half annoyed, half curious gaze. Amu tried to look away, but she couldn't. She figured that now Ikuto was mad at her again, and she felt guilty about it. Amu inwardly gave a sigh of relief when Ikuto averted his gaze down. But... She still didn't want to look away. She watched as the curiosity in his face went away. Maybe he was taking in what she had said? That he had a "problem?" Did he take it too hard? Nothing moved. Nothing but the waves. But they weren't relevant in either Ikuto or Amu's minds. The tree didn't move, Amu didn't move, Ikuto didn't move. He just looked down with an unreadable expression, and Amu just watched. Watched and waited. Waited for some sign that he was still there. She could see his shoulders get tense. And she could feel the rest of his body get tense under her. He nervously swallowed. Ikuto gripped one hand on the branch tightly, and with the other, pulled Amu closer and tighter to him. He adjusted his position under her restlessly.

"Amu,"

Amu was startled by the sudden noise.

"Wrap your arms around me," he said.

"Why?"

"Because, I'm getting sort of tired of holding you. You put your arms around me for a while, so you don't fall off," Ikuto grabbed one of Amu's arms and put it around his neck, and then put the other one around his waist.

Amu blushed.

This gave Ikuto the ability to put both his hands on the branch and lift himself up and scoot back.

"What was that all about?" Amu asked when they were settled again.

"Well, while you were sitting on my lap, you had slipped down my legs toward my knees, and that was throwing off my balance. So I had to move back on the branch. And also, I decided that you probably want to get off of me, so I moved over. What do you say?"

"Y-Yeah," Amu blushed.

Ikuto wrapped both his arms around Amu and moved her to his right, sliding her onto the branch so she could sit down on her own.

Ikuto slouched over. He pressed his elbows into his knees to a point that it looked rather painful. He held his chin in his left hand, and his right hand rested on his left knee. Amu watched as he started to tap his right index finger rhythmically on his left arm. She watched as it sped up to a quick tempo, and didn't slow in the slightest. It went on for minutes, and it interested Amu. And that's what Amu did while she waited for Ikuto to speak. She watched him tap his finger and made a mental note of it too look for it in the future.

"And... You're right. You have a right to keep secrets, as do I," he shrugged.

Amu stuck her hand in front of Ikuto, "Truce?"

Ikuto squinted at her hand, as if concentrating all his energy, then placed his hand with hers and shook it.

The smiled.

"But, Ikuto, why were you so worried about it?"

Ikuto looked out at the waves, "I'm sorry I overreacted so much. It's just because... My whole past, my family, my life, has all been based on lies and secrets. They're just... a nuisance."

Amu tried to imagine how that would be. Your whole life is based on a lie, your family is made of secrets. She felt sad for him. "Well if you're really so worried about it... I'm still completely, 100% virgin."

Then Amu heard the smallest and quietest sigh she had ever heard.

Feeling as if a tension had been lifted between them, they felt free to chat about whatever they wanted, for as long as they wanted. The thought never crossed either of their minds that they had mysteriously left the beach together and left everyone else by themselves.

"Hey, Amu, the sun is setting... I think we should get going," said Ikuto.

"Oh, yeah, you're right. So how do I get off of this thing?"

"Let me get off first, then I'll help you down," Ikuto started to move back to the trunk of the tree.

"Oka-Ah!"

Ikuto quickly placed his left hand on the branch and reached his other down to catch Amu's wrist. He braced his feet against the branch he was on for balance.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Amu blushed, then looked away sheepishly, "The-There was a big spider."

Ikuto gave her that you-did-not-just-say-that look.

"I'm guessing I'm going to have to save your butt for the rest of the time we're together, right?"

"I I'm not that clumsy! Just get me back up there!"

Ikuto looked at her a few seconds, "Amu, I can carry my weight, and I can carry your weight, but I cannot pull both of our weights combined onto a branch with one hand."

Amu stared up at him, not knowing what he meant.

"We're taking the quick way down," he said, bluntly.

"What?"

"Try to wrap your arms around my neck," he started to pull her up as close as he could to his body so she could get her arms around him.

"Okay, hold on tight, I've gotta move my hand," he moved his hand to her back.

Ikuto was faced with a problem. It was a small, petty problem, but it was still a problem, and he didn't like them. He couldn't figure out where to put his hand. Theoretically, the best place would be her butt, but he had to make sure he was still alive to go on tour later.

"Amu?"

"Yeah?"

"I've gotta grab your butt."

Before Amu could say a word in protest, he grabbed onto her and let go of the branch.

It was a comforting feeling of falling for Ikuto. He felt sorry for Amu. She obviously didn't enjoy it as much as him. He could tell by her scream as the two plummeted toward the ground, holding tightly to each other, even though she knew she was in safe arms. Ikuto landed in the sand, cradling Amu in his arms. Before they landed, Ikuto had moved his hand to the safer area of the back of her knee. He found himself happy with the feel of his bathing suit on her. He put her softly into the sand, but he didn't let go of her. He traced his finger tips along her arm. He watched as gentle goose bumps appeared.

Amu tried to brush Ikuto's hand off of her arm, "What are you doing?"

"Tell me," he said, not really paying attention to Amu's annoyed glance, "Do girls _ever_ appreciate how soft their skin is?"

Amu blushed. "What?"

"Girls have such soft skin, but they take is for granted. You're a girl; tell me why they do that."

Amu grabbed onto his wrist and pulled it off of her arm. She sat down and buried her toes into the sand and wiggled them around.

Ikuto sat down beside her.

Amu watched as Ikuto smoothed out the ground in front of him and started to draw a picture in the sand. But his finger was still tapping. He was using his left hand. She never noticed that Ikuto was left handed before. She watched as his hand shook as he tried to etch in details to the picture of sand. Okay, maybe he's not left handed, he just couldn't draw while he was tapping his finger. She gave him points for trying, though.

"Amu," Ikuto said quietly. His finger stopped tapping as he stopped drawing. He used his right hand to write something in cursive beside the picture. "We're supposed to be going home."

"Oh yeah," Amu stood up and started to follow behind Ikuto, who had started to walk back to the tree line. She stopped in front of his picture. She saw two lines that went up and met at an angle like a triangle with an arch in the middle, sort of like an "A." Then she read the words beside it, "Eiffel Tower."

A/N- OKAY! I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO(ect. ect. ect,) SORRY I DIDN'T POST ANYTHING LAST WEEK! I was… swamped by stuff. BUT! One of those stuff's gave me a wonderful inspiration for a whole newww plot twist. Oh, and I'm NOT telling you what it is. But I will tell you some things that you can plan to see in upcoming chapterrrssss. 1. A star will fall 2. Ikuto will save a life 3. Amu gets to see something big and fleshy 4. Ikuto will _not_ run over a baby with his motorcycle 5. Ikuto has to decide what not to get wet 6. Amu and Ikuto get sweaty together! So yeah, as you can tell, I'm trying to be vague. So I'll run a contest. If you can guess what each one _really _means, then I'll give you a shout-out in the next chapter or so (maybe chapter 11, maybe 12 or 13. just depends). So just put the number and what you think it is in a comment/review thing, good luck! Remember to R&R! Every author loves that!


	11. Counting

Amu stood under the warm water of her shower. She sighed. So much had happened that day and now she had even more questions. Ikuto had somehow slipped out of telling her about Paris, even though she had been meaning to ask him all day. Amu reached behind her and grabbed a wash cloth and her body rinse. She squirted out the pink rinse onto the small white cloth and started to rub it over her. She didn't really understand why she was taking a shower. She hadn't even done much today. She went to write a song, and then she went to the beach, but didn't even get in the water. She didn't mind, really. She liked showers. Amu took a big whiff of the air. It smelled like strawberries, thanks to her body wash. She started to cover her whole body in suds. She worked the wash cloth up the back of her legs when she remembered Ikuto. In particular, she remembered Ikuto grabbing her butt. She blushed. The water seemed to be 10 degrees hotter after that, and she had to go turn it colder. She'd have to hit him for that tomorrow.

"Tomorrow," she said aloud.

Was she going to see Ikuto tomorrow? She hadn't made any plans to see him tomorrow. Oh well, whatever happens will happen, right? She rinsed off the suds and turned off the water. She grabbed her towel. She stepped out of the shower and wrapped it around herself. She started to pick up her clothes off the floor. She blushed when she picked up Ikuto's bathing suit. She didn't even notice that she had been wearing it before her bath. Her parents hadn't said anything about it either. Ikuto obviously didn't mind. After drying off, she pulled her after-shower cover up that she always wore and pulled her hair up into a pony tail to dry. She dropped her clothes, minus Ikuto's bathing suit, into the hamper and went to the kitchen. She grabbed a small glass of milk and went back upstairs to her room. She opened the door and went to go sit on her bed.

"Yo," cooed a blue haired boy sitting on Amu's desk chair.

Amu almost dropped her glass out of shock, "I-Ikuto! What are you doing here? How did you get in?"

"It's not safe to leave your window unlocked," he said nonchalantly.

Amu blushed, "Well, why are you here?"

"I came to get my bathing suit. You seem to have left with it by mistake."

Amu blushed at the suit draped over her arm. She sat on her bed and threw the bathing suit at Ikuto's head. He didn't move to take it off of his face immediately, but he chuckled. He let the clothing article slide off his face into his lap. He lifted it back up to his face and sniffed it, "Why does it smell like strawberries?"

Amu blushed, "That's my body wash."

"Very…" Ikuto searched for the right word, "_Fruity._"

Amu nodded awkwardly.

Ikuto twisted back and forth in the spinning computer chair leisurely.

Amu sat in silence for a moment as Ikuto got up from her pink computer chair and sat down on the bed beside her.

Ikuto pressed his nose into her shoulder. "Strangely enough," Ikuto said facetiously, "You smell like my bathing suit. Now why is that?" he joked.

Amu slammed her palm to her forehead over-dramatically as Ikuto chuckled at her reaction.

Ikuto wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him, "Has my little Strawberry been cuddling my swim suit?"

Amu grumbled and pushed Ikuto off the bed. He landed on her floor with a thud.

"I was only joking," He said as he looked up at her. "That really hurt."

"I-I don't care. That was… dirty," Amu grimaced.

Ikuto stretched and rested his arms behind his head. He crossed his legs on the hard wooden floor and started examining papers that were stuffed under the bed.

He pulled out piece of notebook paper that looked like it was drawn on with a bright pink highlighter. Ikuto read the paper aloud, "Amu heart Tadase forever; Hotori Amu, Hotori Amu, Hotori Amu; Tadase and Amu, Tadase and Amu, Tadase and Amu; Tadase, My Prince; 'Amu, will you marry me? I love you ever so much; I want to make you my princess;' I love Hotori Tadase."

"Ikuto, why are you going through my stuff," Amu asked angrily.

"It was just, you know, lying there. So I picked it up and started reading it," Ikuto shrugged.

"Lies—I put that_ under _my bed," Amu grabbed the paper from Ikuto.

"So, you must really have a crush on this Tadase kid, huh," Ikuto climbed back onto the bed and stretched out in front of Amu.

Amu crumpled up the paper and tossed it at her wastebasket—and missed.

"Nice shot," Ikuto taunted. He leaned over the side of the bed and grabbed another piece of paper and balled it up. He too shot it at the wastebasket, but his bounced off Amu's pink computer chair and back into the can. "_That's _how you do it."

Amu sighed and hit Ikuto playfully on the head, "You're such a show-off, you know that?"

"Yeah, sort of," Ikuto grinned at her.

A thought popped into Amu's mind, "Oh, Ikuto, do we have anything planned for tomorrow?"

"Why," he smirked, "You want to go on a date?"

Amu blushed, "No."

"Do you _have_ a date for tomorrow or something, t hen?"

Strangely, Amu blushed more at this then at the first question, "No, of course not."

Ikuto paused.

"Why, do_ you_ want to go on a date or something?" Amu retorted smartly.

Ikuto chuckled, "Oh, someone has a witty mouth. Alas—no, I'm not interested in a date at the moment. I was just making sure you have some sort of life—which you obviously don't."

"I have a life," Amu argued.

Ikuto opened his mouth to reply with what was probably a well thought out clever comment, but he was interrupted by his phone beeping. He pulled it out of his back pocket and opened it to read a text.

Amu raised her eyebrows in question to the contents of the message.

Ikuto stood up off of the bed, "I've got to go," he said. "Dinner's ready."

"Dinner's ready?" The word didn't exactly process through Amu's mind, since she had assumed that Ikuto had lived alone, given his dark and lonesome attitude.

"Yeah, I live with Utau. She may be annoying," he smirked, "But she is an _amazing_ cook."

"Oh," Amu said. "So we don't have any recording or anything tomorrow?"

"Not unless Shiragin decides to schedule some surprise practice session, which he hasn't done since I started working with him."

"Okay then, I'll see you… whenever," Amu said.

Ikuto climbed out of Amu's window and stood on her balcony, facing her. He gave her a cute little two-fingered salute and jumped off the edge of the balcony.

Amu, flustered, ran over to the trash can and pulled back out the paper she had crumpled up. She straightened it out to her best ability, and hugged it lovingly to her chest. "Tadase-kun," she sighed.

She folded the paper in fourths and placed it in her desk drawer. She got dressed into her pajamas and went back downstairs to watch a little television before bed.

Little had she known, though, that Ikuto hadn't left. He had been hiding outside her window in the shadows of the night. He had watched her after she had though that he was gone, and he saw how she eagerly fished her paper out of the trash can and given it a hug.

Many different things went through Ikuto's mind then. He wasn't a psychiatrist, no, but he had spent a good deal of his time in _institutions_—they didn't call them _asylums_—even though everyone knew that's what they were. They had a gated yard with a razor barbed wire on top—it was an asylum. The things that went through his head at that moment had been things that he had overheard while he was _visiting. _Stockholm syndrome was the first and most prominent idea. He went over the definition he had memorized in his mind, _an extraordinary phenomenon in which a hostage begins to identify with and grow sympathetic to their captor._

Ikuto stuffed his hands in his pockets and pulled his cell phone back out. He opened Utau's message and replied to it, saying "I'll be a bit late. Sorry."

Ikuto walked back to the EASTER building in a modest pace. He counted every step he took. Numbers went through his head, _1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10._ Then they repeated again, _1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. _Every step had a number, until he had gone through the numbers about six times. He then restarted his count, but instead using letters instead of letters. Each step made the sound of _a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h,_ and so on. He didn't even think twice about it. This was something he did habitually. He used it to keep his mind busy, and himself focused. He repeated the process, going through numbers, then through the alphabet, then even started to spell out words or math equations in time with his steps. _T-s-u-k-i-y-o-m-i- I-k-u-t-o; f-o-r-t-y-f-o-u-r d-i-v-i-d-e-d b-y t-w-e-n-t-y p-l-u-s f-i-v-e t-o t-h-e t-h-i-r-d p-o-w-e-r t-i-m-e-s f-o-u-r e-q-u-a-l-s f-i-v-e h-u-n-d-r-e-d t-w-o p-o-i-n-t t-w-o._

The crisp night's breeze blew against Ikuto's face calmly. He felt like he was in a good mood. He didn't in fact know why, but he was. Maybe it was because he thought he had figured out what was wrong in Amu's head. As he passed by a lowly lit intersection he saw two school girls walking down the road in the opposite direction of him. One of them was talking to the other, but was interrupted with the other spotted him from across the street and started to point to him. He heard bits and pieces of what they were saying, such as the fact that it was dark, so she wasn't too sure if it was him, but then that she knew in her heart that it was him. They argued for the slightest second about going over and asking for autographs, but decided not to, on account they still weren't completely sure it was him. They passed each other, on opposite sides of the road, without a word. As he headed off for the EASTER building, he heard a raised voice behind him. Under a street lamp, he saw two men who had cornered the girls. They each had a hold on one of the girl's wrists, but the girls were struggling to get away. The girls yelled at him to let them go, they didn't want any trouble. The men started to drag the girls roughly to a motel that was near by. The girls started to try to hit them, but the men were much bigger, and just laughed at their petty attempts at escape.

Ikuto stood and watched as they continued to get dragged away. He noticed that counting had stopped in his head. Counting was what kept his mind to itself, but when he stopped counting, his mind started to control things it shouldn't. Ikuto tried to decide what to do. He knew the right thing would be to pull out his cell phone and call the police, but his pride got in the way of being a tattle-tale. "It's not your problem," he thought to himself. "You don't know those girls. You've never seen them before in your life," it tried to persuade him.

None the less, Ikuto did what could have been the worst choice. He broke out into a sprint down the dark street toward the men.

He said to them in a superior tone, "Hey!"

The men looked at each other then looked back at Ikuto. The one with black hair said, "What do you want, kid?"

"Where are you taking those girls?" he asked.

"To a motel, they're our girlfriends'. We're off to have a little _fun_. Is there anything wrong with that?"

He considered giving the answer "no," then leaving them to their business, but he couldn't seem to figure out how.

"Don't think I'm dumb. I saw you grab them off the street, I know what you're going to do," he put his arms up beside him as if to stop the offenders from going any further.

The two men looked at each other again. This time, the one with blonde hair replied, "Well, I guess we'll just have to take care of a few things first."

As soon as the words left his mouth, his fist came flying and hit Ikuto square in the jaw.

Ikuto was blown back, but regained himself quickly. An evil smirk played across his lips as he gently caressed his jaw, which was probably fractured now. Ikuto reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He reached his hand inside and pulled out a small Swiss Army knife. He pressed the button, and the glimmering blade flung out of the wooden capsule with ease.

The fight was short. The girls hid as best they could in the shadows, covering their eyes from the blows. The two men escaped still alive, but each with a bit of a limp, and a tiny trail of blood. Ikuto was probably the most hurt of all. The men had gotten a hold of his knife, and stabbed him in the arm. His jaw was definitely fractured, if not broken, and he had bruises on his face and all over his arms. Ikuto swirled his tongue around him mouth, collecting all the blood that had leaked from punctures and blows near his mouth, and spit it out on the street. He fixed his hair in a fashion to conceal his bruises as best he could. He walked over to the girls and tapped them on the shoulder, letting them know that the men were gone.

Ikuto hadn't even noticed that the fight had heightened his mood. He didn't notice until after the girls had asked for his autograph and to take their pictures with him on their cell phones. He didn't even notice that he had actually been smiling in the picture (even if it was still his cat's grin).

He finally made his way back to EASTER without another interruption. He took the elevator to the third floor, and walked to Shiragin's office.

Shiragin looked at him with wide eyes, "What happened to you?"

"It doesn't matter," Ikuto said, "What matters is, is that Amu's a virgin."

"And how did you come to this conclusion?" Shiragin asked suspiciously.

"She told me. She said that she hadn't been raped or anything," Ikuto smiled at him, hoping for some sign of approval for solving the case. Instead he was faced with a stern glare and a tight frown.

"I told you not to talk to her about that," he said.

"So? I figured out what I wanted to know, so its all good now," Ikuto shrugged to hide the fact that he inwardly embarrassed to think that someone would actually approve of him.

"Well, did you ask her or what?" Shiragin asked purely out of curiosity.

"We were just talking, and it came up. I had to bug her about it for a little, then we got into a little fight, then she told me that Tadase hadn't raped her, then she almost fell out of a tree, then she told me that she was still a virgin," Ikuto said it all in one breath, he was so excited.

"Ikuto," Shiragin said with a tone of pity in his voice, "What has this girl done to you?"

Ikuto raised his eyebrows in question to what he meant.

"Before you met her, you didn't believe a thing that anyone said. I could tell you something of petty importance, but you would still question if it was true or not."

"I never did that," Ikuto defended.

"Ikuto, just last week, I was complaining that the vending machine had run out of Pockey, and then after you came back from the _bathroom_, you told me that I was right. The vending machines are nowhere close to the bathrooms!"

Ikuto understood, but he was making his best at stalling anyway, "And your point is?"

"You never trusted anyone until you met Amu. Now when she tells you that she wasn't raped or anything, you're going to just go and believe her without any evidence."

Ikuto looked away with a somewhat guilty expression on his face.

"So tell me," Shiragin changed the subject, "what happened to your face? And why is there blood on your jacket?"

"I got in a fight on the street," Ikuto mumbled. "These guys were trying to take these girls back to a motel with them, but they didn't want to go."

Shiragin stared at Ikuto. The attempt at changing the subject was a failure, so he just jumped back to his discussion about Amu.

"Ikuto," he said to him, "You can't believe her. She has given you no evidence, no nothing. You have no reason to believe her so early on."

At that Ikuto turned on his heel and headed for the door.

"You're definitely Aruto's boy," he said.

Ikuto left the room and pretended that he hadn't even heard him.

_1,2,34,5,6,7,8,9,10; 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10…_


	12. Car Ride

A few uneventful days passed. There was more practice, then a day of rest. The plans were that the next morning, Ikuto would drive over to Amu's and pick her up in the morning. Then Ikuto and Amu would meet Shiragin at the airport to leave for the south-eastern United States. That faithful morning came, and Amu's happy was more than upset to see her leaving.

Ikuto, tired of waiting in the car, invited himself inside; not that he was noticed, considering how much Amu's parents were gushing over her departure in the foyer in front of the door. Ikuto leaned against the door impatiently, tapping his finger. He pulled out his cell phone and started texting someone.

"Okay, okay, Mama, I'll call you when I can. I mean, I'm probably going to be busy. Hold on, I got a text," Amu pulled out her phone and flipped it open.

The message was addressed from Ikuto, it simply said "Hurry up, we've got to go."

Amu entered a colon, then a backslash, then sent the message to Ikuto as a sign of defiance. It was a very poor attempt at not listening to an authority, because as soon as his phone beeped with news of a message and he pressed it open, she felt a hand grab her shoulder and pull her back into Ikuto's tall frame.

"I'm sorry, Hinamori-san, but we really must be going. Amu doesn't want to be late on her first trip to America, isn't that right, Amu?"

Amu rolled her eyes and leaned out of Ikuto's grasp and kissed her mother, her father, and her little sister goodbye.

Ikuto urged her out the door. He grabbed her bags and carried them behind him while scooting her along the pathway to the road quickly.

"What's the rush, Ikuto?" Amu asked.

"If there's one thing Shiragin hates, its unpunctuality," Ikuto pressed his hand against Amu's lower back and pushed her quicker toward the car.

Amu blushed and shooed Ikuto's hand off of her back, but in return, she sped up her pace to Ikuto's car. She opened the door and sat down on the leather seat that was now warmed by the sun. Ikuto went around the back and threw Amu's bags into the trunk along with his. Her polka-dotted bright pink bags clashed so colorfully with his boring black ones. Seconds later, Ikuto was sitting beside her in the driver's seat with his keys in the ignition.

Once they started moving, Ikuto relaxed. Truthfully, Shiragin didn't mind when people were late. Actually, Ikuto just wanted to get out of that house and onto the road. It was very apparent that Amu's dad wasn't too fond of Ikuto. He thought that Ikuto would end up raping Amu or something of the sort.

"That's ridiculous, I have self control," Ikuto said aloud, forgetting that Amu was in the car beside him.

"What's ridiculous?" Amu asked.

Ikuto looked over at her when he realized she had heard him, "Oh, it's nothing of your concern. I was just thinking out loud."

Ikuto moved Amu's arm off of the arm rest that was between them and opened it up. He grabbed a CD from it and closed the arm rest. He put the CD into the CD player and skipped to track fifteen.

The sounds of a guitar and drums filled the car for a few seconds, before Ikuto turned it up—then it blared through the car.

Amu looked over at Ikuto and watched him. She had never heard this song before, so she paid close attention when the words started and Ikuto sang along with them (although his voice was masked by the volume of the music).

_We got the afternoon_

_You got this room for two_

_One thing I've left to do_

_Discover me_

_Discovering you_

_One mile to every inch of_

_Your skin like porcelain_

_One pair of candy lips and_

_Your bubblegum tongue_

_And if you want love_

_We'll make it_

_Swim in a deep sea_

_Of blankets_

_Take all your big plans_

_And break 'em_

_This is bound to be awhile_

_Your body is a wonderland_

_Your body is a wonder (I'll use my hands)_

_Your body is a wonderland_

_Something 'bout the way the hair falls in your face_

_I love the shape you take when crawling towards the pillowcase_

_You tell me where to go and_

_Though I might leave to find it_

_I'll never let your head hit the bed_

_Without my hand behind it_

_You want love?_

_We'll make it_

_Swim in a deep sea_

_Of blankets_

_Take all your big plans_

_And break 'em_

_This is bound to be awhile_

_Your body is a wonderland_

_Your body is a wonder (I'll use my hands)_

_Your body is a wonderland_

_Damn baby_

_You frustrate me_

_I know you're mine all mine all mine_

_But you look so good it hurts sometimes_

_Your body is a wonderland_

_Your body is a wonder (I'll use my hands)_

_Your body is a wonderland_

_Your body is a wonderland_

Amu blushed a light pink when she thought about what the song was about.

Ikuto turned down the volume as the song ended, "You like it?"

"I don't know," Amu said, "Why?"

"He's opening for us," Ikuto said as he turned the volume up to a moderate volume, but quiet enough that he could still hear Amu.

"Really?" Amu asked.

"No, I'm just kidding. He's way too good for us," he laughed to himself.

Amu nodded, "Well, I'm glad to see that you don't think you're all-that, better than everyone around you."

Ikuto continued to laugh as music played softly, filling the car.

"Oh, Ikuto, um, have you ever been on a plane before?"

"Yeah, lots of times, why?" Ikuto's giggle-fit had calmed down, and he was paying close attention to the road, although they were the only car on the road for a good 100 feet.

Amu looked out the window at the passing trees, "I've never been on a plane. What's it like?"

"Well, we're flying in the business class, and we're flying international. That means that you get comfy seats and a TV to watch. The food isn't all that good though, depending on what you get. And our flight will take roughly 17 hours, we're going on Delta," he told her.

Amu looked shocked, "Seventeen hours?"

"Japan and the east coast of America are pretty far apart. And after we land, we have a 4 hour drive to where we're staying for a week."

Amu let out a heavy sigh, "But that's _so_ long!"

Ikuto chuckled at her, "Its okay, you'll have something to do. You could sleep, for instance."

Amu turned on the fan and pointed the cool air towards her. She decided to change the subject off of excruciatingly long flights, "What kind of car is this?"

"It's a Kia," he said.

"Okay, Ikuto, be more specific. Seriously," Amu gave him a sharp look.

"Oh, you want me to be specific? Well let's see," Ikuto looked up in mock-thought, "My car is _silver_, and it has _leather seats_, and it can hold _5 CDs_ at a time," he stayed quiet after that, waiting for Amu's reply.

"What model car is it?"

"Oh, that's what you wanted to know. I see. Its an Amanti," Ikuto grinned at her, "Isn't it pretty?"

Amu squinted at him, but she couldn't help but let her lips pull up into a smile, "You're such a dork, you know that?"

Ikuto shook his head in a proud way, "I've been told."

Amu let out a small laugh and turned the music back up. She changed the track number to 11 to see what would come on.

_It's not a silly little moment_

_It's not the storm before the calm_

_This is the deep and dying breath of_

_This love that we've been working on_

_Can't seem to hold you like I want to_

_So I can feel you in my arms_

_Nobody's gonna come and save you_

_We pulled too many false alarms_

Amu was surprised that it was the same person as before. The first song was most definitely (if not bluntly) about sex, but this one was about love.

_We're going down_

_And you can see it too_

_We're going down_

_And you know that we're doomed_

_My dear_

_We're slow dancing in a burning room_

_I was the one you always dreamed of_

_You were the one I tried to draw_

_How dare you say it's nothing to me?_

_Baby, you're the only light I ever saw_

_I'll make the most of all the sadness_

_You'll be a bitch because you can_

_You try to hit me just to hurt me_

_So you leave me feeling dirty_

'_Cause you can't understand_

_We're going down_

_And you can see it too_

_We're going down_

_And you know that we're doomed_

_My dear_

_We're slow dancing in a burning room_

_Go cry about it - why don't you?_

_Go cry about it - why don't you?_

_Go cry about it - why don't you?_

_My dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room_

_Burning room_

_Burning room_

_Burning room_

_Burning room_

_Don't you think we oughta know by now?_

_Don't you think we shoulda learned somehow?_

_Don't you think we oughta know by now?_

_Don't you think we shoulda learned somehow?_

_Don't you think we oughta know by now?_

_Don't you think we shoulda learned somehow?_

Amu pulled out her iPod and opened her Safari search engine, "Who did you say this was again?"

"John Mayer," Ikuto said.

Amy typed in "john mayer lyrics" and scrolled through the first results. She clicked on one and started reading the lyrics. She liked them. "Hey, Ikuto, do you have _The Heart of Life_ on that CD?"

Without missing a beat, Ikuto replied, "Track seven."

The song had changed to track 12 while she was looking things up, so she clicked the back button 6 times. The song started with soft guitar, voice being added at approximately 21 seconds. Amu read the lyrics on her iPod as the song played.

_I hate to see you cry_

_Lying there in that position_

_There's things you need to hear_

_So turn off your tears and listen_

_Pain throws your heart to the ground_

_Love turns the whole thing around_

_No, it won't all go the way it should_

_But I know the heart of life is good_

_You know it's nothing new_

_Bad news never had good timing_

_Then the circle of your friends_

_Will defend the silver lining_

_Pain throws your heart to the ground_

_Love turns the whole thing around_

_No, it won't all go the way it should_

_But I know the heart of life is good_

_Pain throws your heart to the ground_

_Love turns the whole thing around_

_Fear is a friend who's misunderstood_

_But I know the heart of life is good_

_I know it's good_

Amu smiled at the happy tune of the song. She decided to be a little more orderly and set the track number back to one. She grabbed a pen that was sitting on the floor beside her feet and grabbed a piece of paper out of her bag. She asked Ikuto the names of all the songs on the CD in order.

He hesitated a second, then replied in one breath, "Assassin, Belief, Clarity, Daughters, Dreaming With a Broken Heart, Edge of Desire, Heart Of Life, Heartbreak Warfare, I'm Gonna Find Another You, I Don't Trust Myself With Loving You, Slow Dancing in a Burning Room, Something's Missing, Stop This Train, War of My Life, Your Body is a Wonderland."

Amu's hand struggled to keep up with the pace at which he was speaking. She listened to the CD all the way through, putting checks beside each song she liked (which happened to be all of them). When the CD ran out of songs, Amu frowned.

Ikuto caught sight of this, and opened the arm rest again. He pulled out another CD and held it up to the CD slot. He saw Amu's face light up, "Just so you know, this one isn't all John Mayer, its got a few others on it… Actually, I put a few of those weird songs from your iPod on it."

"What songs are on this CD?" Amu asked.

Ikuto had to think for a few seconds about this one, but soon replied, "Prelude 12/21, Coastal Cities, Thunder, It's Time to Dance, Mad World, Love Like Woe, Wish We Were Older, Monsters, Price of Company, STARSTRUKK, Stripped, Time is Running Out, Comfortably Numb, Clarity, Holiday, Candle, Your Body is a Wonderland… Come to think of it, only two of the songs are John Mayer. Oh well, I'm sure you'll enjoy everything else. This CD is approximately 1 hour, so I doubt you'll get through much. I suggest skipping to song number 5, then number seven.

Amu flipped to number 5, which, if she remembered right, was Mad World.

_All around me are familiar faces_

_worn out places, worn out faces_

_Bright and early for the daily races_

_Going nowhere, going nowhere_

_Their tears are filling up their glasses_

_No expression, no expression_

_Hide my head I wanna drown my sorrow_

_No tomorrow, no tomorrow_

_And I find it kind of funny_

_I find it kind of sad_

_The dreams in which I'm dying_

_Are the best I've ever had_

_I find it hard to tell you_

_I find it hard to take_

_When people run in circles_

_It's a very, very_

_Mad world_

_Mad world_

_Children waiting for the day they feel good_

_Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday_

_And I feel the way that every child should_

_Sit and listen, sit and listen_

_Went to school and I was very nervous_

_No one knew me, no one knew me_

_Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson_

_Look right through me, look right through me_

_And I find it kind of funny_

_I find it kind of sad_

_The dreams in which I'm dying_

_Are the best I've ever had_

_I find it hard to tell you_

_I find it hard to take_

_When people run in circles_

_It's a very, very, mad world, mad world_

_Enlarge your world_

_Mad world_

Amu turned down the volume as the next song, Love Like Woe, came on, "Well that was a weird song."

"You think that was weird? Go to number thirteen," Ikuto winked at her with a sly look on his face. "By the way, we're about 15 minutes away from the airport. Get ready for your first plane ride"

A/N- I'm so sorry for the wait. My computer got another virus. Again. It needs… like… a vaccine. Just so you know, I do not own John Mayer, Gary Jules (Mad World), Pink Floyd (Comfortably Numb), or any of the other artists and songs listed in this chapter. Ikuto and I just share the same taste in music (no, not really. Those are both the playlists of two of my mix CDs… ;D).


	13. Let's Take a Walk & The Chocolate Tree

The plane ride wasn't bad, but it wasn't too enjoyable either. The seats, though rather soft, were in a weird position, and Amu was annoyed by how the television worked. This is how it happened: she watched a couple hours of American cartoons, and then she checked the time and the weather on the weather channel. When she went back to cartoons, all her cartoons had started over. Then she realized that the cartoons were on a pre-recorded schedule, so if she changed the channel, it went straight back to the beginning of the list of cartoons. Then, eventually, the cartoons started over from the beginning. She ended pulling out a piece of paper and playing tic-tac-toe, hangman, and other games with Ikuto for a while, before she ended up listening to her iPod and doodling pictures on a new piece of paper. Ikuto was on his laptop doing who knows what.

The plane landed in Charlotte, North Carolina. Shiragin ordered a taxi, and they got a hotel to stay in for a bit. They all caught up on their sleep. It was a two room suite, Shiragin got one room, Amu got the other room, Ikuto slept on the couch. The next day, a little before noon, Shiragin got a rental car and drove to Beaufort. The drive took 4 hours, so Amu took a nap, and Ikuto watched the world pass at 60mph blur out of his window. Ikuto woke Amu up when they got to the house they would be staying at for a week to "get used to southern American culture."

"By the way, guys," Shiragin said to Amu and Ikuto as they were getting their things out of the trunk, "The people that are letting us stay in their house are having renovations done, so we can only use two of the bedrooms. So it looks like you guys will have to share. But its okay, I checked, and the bedroom you'll have has two beds."

Amu sighed; of course something like this would happen. Ikuto didn't seem as moved.

Amu, Ikuto, and Shiragin carried their bags up the stairs and then inside. There was another set of stairs that had a faded red carpet on them. They all lugged their things up the stair case. Shiragin turned to the right when he got up the stair case and went into the second room. Shiragin pointed Amu and Ikuto to the left, where there was one door. They went into the bedroom.

The bedroom was sort of small, but it was okay. It had two beds, and a chest. One had a light blue floral print and was one of those sun-beds that are put up long-ways against walls. There was a window right above this one. The other one was green with stripes. This one had a large trunk at the end of the bed.

"So who gets which bed?" Ikuto asked.

Without a word, Amu dropped her bag on the bed closest to the door and right in front of her, the green one with the stripes and the trunk.

"Well then, I guess I get the flower one. I'm _so_ happy," Ikuto said sarcastically. Ikuto left his things on his new bed and the two went to go explore their surroundings. When they exit their bedroom there is a bathroom to their left, and a bedroom which was being renovated straight ahead. They could turn right, which would take them down the stairs, or they could go straight, then turn right, which would lead them to Shiragin's bedroom, a computer, and another bedroom which was being renovated. They went back down the stairs. Ahead, there was a kitchen, to the right was the living room, and in the back corner of the first floor was a dining room. There was also a patio outside the dining room with a hammock. To the left of the stairs were the front door, another bathroom, and two doors. One led to the master bedroom which was being renovated, and the other led to a stair case that took them downstairs into the garage. The garage had an outside shower, there was a golf cart parked down there for their use, and a swinging bench that was attached to the ceiling. There was also another staircase that led back up to the first level, but it led to the patio which was outside the dining room and the living room. There was a wooden path that led out the back of the garage. Amu and Ikuto walked down the path to see where it led. It led to a long wooden dock. Ikuto started walking out onto the dock, but Amu stayed behind. She made an excuse to stay at the beginning, saying that she was looking at all the little crabs that scurried about in the mud below. Actually, she was scared of the dock because of her nightmare she had. Ikuto came back, and the two went out to the front yard. There was a wooden swing that was attached to a large tree, and then the driveway.

"Let's go for a walk," Ikuto said as he started to wander off of the property. "Left or right?"

"Um, let's go right," Amu said as they started to walk down the dirt road together. They passed a big white house that had a pond in its front yard, and couple more houses on the first road they went on. They came to a fork in the road, so they turned left. The path that they were on had thick forest on both sides.

"So do you like it here?" Ikuto asked Amu.

Amu thought about her response. She didn't have any reason not to like it, except the dock. She looked over at him to respond, but got distracted when she saw that Ikuto was hopping beside her, with one of his hands messing with his shoes.

"What are you doing?" Amu asked.

Ikuto didn't reply, but made it obvious that he was trying to take his shoes off while still walking beside Amu. Amu stopped walking to allow Ikuto to take off his other shoe.

"Yeah, I like it. I mean, I don't have a reason not to like it," she said to him as she waited for him to continue walking.

The two walked along, Ikuto carrying his black converse in his hand. They turned left again. On their left was a large house, and on their right was a large pond with the occasional fish jumping out of the water, and a marsh just past that. They walked past the house and watched for fish jumping out of the water.

Amu, who was closest to the house, jumped onto the other side of Ikuto when she heard a loud bark and something touching her leg. She clung to Ikuto's arm from surprise.

Ikuto looked at the two large dogs that were now behind them, then looked back at Amu, "Amu, it's a dog. We have those in Japan."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, it just startled me," Amu let go of Ikuto's arm.

The dogs, one black and one brown, followed behind them until they got to the next house on the road. There was a dog on the porch of this house, a Chihuahua that barked at them happily until they passed the house. The next left they took brought them back onto the paved road that they were driving on to get to the house. They walked back to the drive way when Ikuto asked Amu if she wanted to go in the other direction this time.

"Sure, why not," Amu shrugged.

They took a right this time, which took them past more of the property they were staying at. There was a house on their right with a two dogs. One was white, and it sat quietly and wagged its tail. The other was multi-colored and it barked angrily at the two as they passed by. They passed that house and saw a large, expensive looking house ahead. When they got to the end of that road, they turned around and looked in the opposite direction of the house. There was a large marsh, and ahead was another house and another pond. They passed by the house with the dogs. The white dog sat and wagged his tail, and the multi-colored one ran towards the side of the house. Ikuto watched as it went through a hole in the fence and started to run after them, but Amu hadn't seemed to notice. Ikuto grabbed onto Amu's wrist and started to run back towards the house. The dog was chomping at the air as it barked and it was showing its teeth. It was chasing them. Amu tried to catch up with Ikuto when she noticed that the dog was chasing them, but she wasn't fast enough, and the dog was gaining on them. Ikuto slowed down for the slightest second, pulled Amu into his arms bridal style, and carried her back to the house to avoid being bitten by the dog. He put her down when the dog stopped chasing them. Amu looked up at Ikuto.

"Hey," she pointed behind Ikuto, "Look over there."

Ikuto turned his head to look, and Amu punched him in the arm as hard as she could. Ikuto looked back quickly and grabbed his arm. He rubbed his arm where Amu had hit it, "Ouch. What was that for?"

"It's for when you touched my butt the other day. I forgot to punch you for it."

Ikuto just shook his head at her and walked back to the house. He trotted up the stairs and went into the living room where he found Shiragin stretched out on the couch watching TV.

"I would like to request your assistance," Ikuto said to him jokingly.

"What do you want?" Shiragin asked.

"I need you to drive me somewhere," Ikuto said.

"Why? You're 18, you have a license, you can drive," Shiragin shrugged.

"Yeah, but I just need you to," Ikuto insisted.

Shiragin looked at his watch, "How long will this take?"

"You've just got to take me into town, and then you can come back."

"How will you get back?"

"I'll find a way. So take me or not?"

Shiragin got up and stretched, "Sure, whatever."

Ikuto and Shiragin walked down into the garage. Amu was swinging on the hanging bench.

"Amu, I have to take Ikuto somewhere real quick, I'll be back in a few minutes," Shiragin said as he unlocked the car.

"Okay, but can't Ikuto just drive himself?"

"Yeah, I don't know why he won't just do that. Oh well," Shiragin got into the car with Ikuto who was sitting in the passenger seat. He turned on his GPS, "Okay, so where are we going?"

Ikuto pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and read the address out to Shiragin, "60 Savannah Highway, Beaufort, SC."

Shiragin entered the address and waited for the machine to calculate a route to where they were going. It said the drive would take about 33 minutes to get there.

Shiragin glared at the GPS, and then looked over at Ikuto, "Why can't you just drive here yourself?"

"Just trust me, I'll never ask you for another ride while we're here."

Shiragin sighed and rolled down his window and said to Amu, "Amu, Ikuto surprised me; I'll be back in an hour. Will you be fine by yourself?"

"Yeah," Amu said, wondering what would take an hour to drive to.

Ikuto and Shiragin headed down the road. Ikuto watched attentively out the window, while occasionally glancing at the GPS to see their progress. "Hey, hey, Shiragin," Ikuto said, "You can just pull over here, I'll walk the rest of the way."

Shiragin pulled over, let Ikuto out, made a u-turn and headed back to where the house was.

Ikuto walked a few blocks until we was at Yamaha of Beaufort. He went in, browsed around, and left with a used motorcycle and a helmet. He drove his motorcycle down the road until he got to 507 Carteret Street. He looked up at the sign above the shop to make sure it was the right one. He nodded to himself, _The Chocolate Tree._

A/N- Here you go, a wonderful gift. This is compensation for my super long hiatus. Two chapters in two days. This chapter was very fruitful (just my awkward way of saying that I really liked it). Why? Because no matter how many times I ask my dad to take me to Chocolate Tree when we pass it, he won't take me.


	14. Shopping

Amu squatted down, holding her knees closely to her chest. She looked at the small creature with great interest. Shiragin had told her that this was a female fiddler crab that she had been following around. It looked like a normal crab, but it was all a dark brown color, and very small. It also didn't have very strong pinchers because one had grabbed on to her finger but it tickled instead of hurt. She poked at it and watched as it scurried away. She pressed down on its shell lightly, and it ran away, hiding under the planks of wood on the wooden walkway. Not seeing any more crabs around, Amu stood up and started walking to the front yard. At the end of the garage, before the mess of dirt and pine straw started, was a thick lining of grey rocks and white oyster shells. Having taken her shoes off already, she jumped over the rough rocks and on to the cushy dirt. She walked out to the wooden swing that hung from a large tree. She hoisted herself onto the sandy swing and pumped her legs, moving herself back and forth. She watched the ground ahead of her as she swung back and forth, and only heard the revs of something coming into the driveway. She looked back to see a figure familiarly dressed, but whose face was covered by a tinted helmet. The motorcycle stopped, and driver stood up and leaned it against the wall, and removed his helmet. Lo-and-behold, there was Ikuto. He put his helmet on his bike and revealed a box that he had been carrying with him.

"Ikuto?" Amu asked.

He scoffed, "Well, _obviously_."

"You… got a motorcycle?"

Ikuto nodded his head as he proceeded to scoot Amu over on the swing and squish himself in beside her.

Amu tried to keep her distance, but Ikuto didn't seem to mind the close contact. Then she noticed the green and white box in his lap, "What's in the box?"

"Oh, yeah, I stopped on the way home, got you a present," He opened the box to reveal about 30 bite-size pieces of chocolate all fitted in their own little holes that were their perfect shape. Ikuto read the description from the lid out loud in English, "'This is a 'sampler' box of many of our fine candies: nut clusters, crèmes, caramels, marshmallow, butter crunch, peanut butter delight, and many, many more.' Oh, and they're all covered in milk chocolate; I hate dark chocolate."

"Ah, I see," Amu scanned over the chocolates. She noticed Ikuto reading the little map they give you to tell you w which chocolates were in which holes. She started to reach for one, but her hand was swatted away by Ikuto's.

"No, that's the marshmallow one. I love marshmallow," Ikuto grabbed the chocolate and popped it into his mouth. He chewed and Amu heard a loud crunch. Ikuto promptly spit out the chocolate into the ground, the taste of pecans tainting his mouth, "These stupid people don't know how to make charts right."

Amu examined the chart for a moment, and then reached to the other side of the box grabbing a piece of chocolate directly across from the newly vacated hole. She popped the chocolate into her mouth, and smiled when she tasted the sweet and sticky feeling on marshmallow and chocolate mixing. She examined the map once more, finding something to use as her point, "Ikuto, do you like chocolate covered raspberries?"

"Yeah, but I don't trust where the chocolate is now."

Amu grabbed the box of chocolate and turned it 180 degrees, so it was completely flipped. She pointed to the picture of "Chocolate Raspberry" on the map and then pointed to the piece of chocolate in the corresponding hole. She picked it up and placed it at Ikuto's lips. He reluctantly opened his mouth, hoping it wasn't another pecan. He bit down on half of the chocolate, but instead of feeling the crunch he dreaded, his bite was smooth. The taste that filled his mouth was in fact that of raspberry and milk chocolate. He swallowed, and grabbed the other half of the chocolate from Amu's hands and consumed it, then looked to her for an explanation.

Amu put it in layman's terms, "Ikuto, you had the box of chocolate flipped upside down."

Ikuto glared at the box, "Gee, I feel stupid now."

"You should," Amu replied as she grabbed one with pecans.

Ikuto shut the box quickly, "Okay, Amu, save some for dessert, you little piggy."

Amu slapped him on the head playfully and he laughed. "Oh, that reminds me," Amu said, "What are we having for dinner?"

"Dinner!"

Amu tilted her head at him. He got up and motioned for her to follow him.

"Wait here," Ikuto said as he quickly ran up the stairs. He put the box of chocolate in the kitchen, then went back down to the garage. He found Amu waiting patiently for him as he asked. "Yeah, here's the thing, you probably don't know how to cook many things, and Shiragin can't cook worth a crap. So I'm the chef for the next week."

Amu shrugged. "Okay then," she started walking to the stairs to go inside.

"Hold it," Ikuto demanded, "You're helping me. Now come over here."

Amu sighed and walked back over to be faced with a helmet. It was different from the one before, then she realized that Ikuto was offering it to her. She took the helmet and held it in her hands and watched as Ikuto put his on.

"Well what are you waiting for? Put it on. You're coming shopping with me."

Amu started to put it on, "Why do I have to come?"

"You're picking out dinner."

Amu sighed.

"Okay, you get on in front," Ikuto pointed to the motorcycle.

"Why don't we just take the car?"

Ikuto smiled at her, "This is more fun." He nudged Amu on to the front of the motorcycle and then sat down behind her. He showed her where to put her hands and feet so that she didn't get in the way.

Amu blushed as she felt Ikuto pressed up against her back. But that seemed like a petty feeling when her heart nearly skipped a beat when she felt the vibrations of the motorcycle starting. Her heart sped up in nervousness. Ikuto skillfully turned the cycle around and headed out of the driveway.

By the time they had gotten to the grocery store, Publix, Amu's heart had calmed down, and she had become more comfortable on the motorcycle. Ikuto pulled into a parking spot close to the doors and pulled the keys out of the ignition. He got off and helped Amu off.

When Amu stood up, her body felt numb. It was like that feeling you get when you ride a scooter down a really bumpy hill, and when you stop, your hands tingle and fell numb at the same time. She couldn't help but grimace as she pulled her helmet off.

Ikuto couldn't help but laugh.

Amu glared at him.

"It's okay, you'll get used to it. It just takes some time," he shrugged as he started walking off towards the store.

Amu fell in step behind. When they walked in, they were greeted by the comforting feeling of an air conditioner and the comforting smell of a bakery near the entrance. Amu's stomach rumbled when she realized that she hadn't eaten all day besides those two pieces of chocolate.

She tugged at Ikuto's sleeve, "Hey Ikuto, can we get something from the bakery?"

Ikuto grabbed a basket from the stack of blue baskets and realized he was hungry too, "Sure, let's see what they have."

They walked toward the bakery and the smell got stronger. They went up to the woman behind a large counter of bread at pastries and each ordered a doughnut. They nibbled on their doughnuts as they walked back toward the meat section.

"So what do you want for dinner tonight?" Ikuto asked.

"I don't know," Amu shrugged as she swallowed a bite of doughnut.

"Well," Ikuto thought it over, "Chicken is easy, and its cheap, and I feel like eating chicken, so I'll make chicken tonight."

Ikuto examined the many packages of different parts of chicken, and decided on a package of 4 chicken breasts. He could save more for later. They walked through the snack aisle and grabbed things like fruit snacks and Cheeze-Its. They also grabbed a box or two of Devil's Food cookies and chocolate covered pretzels.

They went up to the check-out line and got into the shortest one. While they waited, they scanned over the covers of magazines and picked out a couple of bars of chocolate or other candies. When it was their turn, Ikuto paid in cash to avoid having to write his name in English. They got there things all fit into two bags, and it was Amu's job to hold them on the way back.

They went back out and found their parking spot. Amu held onto the groceries tightly as Ikuto zoomed down the road, the world blurring past both of them at 60-70mph. As they zoomed down the highway, Amu started to sing in her head. No, it wasn't one of her songs, and it wasn't one of Ikuto's songs. She had secretly memorized the lyrics to her new favorite songs, the ones by John Mayer.

_We got the afternoon_

_You got this room for two_

_One thing I've left to do_

_Discover me_

_Discovering you_

_One mile to every inch of_

_Your skin like porcelain_

_One pair of candy lips and_

_Your bubblegum tongue_

_And if you want love_

_We'll make it_

_Swim in a deep sea_

_Of blankets_

_Take all your big plans_

_And break 'em_

_This is bound to be awhile_

_Your body is a wonderland_

_Your body is a wonder (I'll use my hands)_

_Your body is a wonderland_

_Something 'bout the way the hair falls in your face_

_I love the shape you take when crawling towards the pillowcase_

_You tell me where to go and_

_Though I might leave to find it_

_I'll never let your head hit the bed_

_Without my hand behind it_

_You want love?_

_We'll make it_

_Swim in a deep sea_

_Of blankets_

_Take all your big plans_

_And break 'em_

_This is bound to be awhile_

_Your body is a wonderland_

_Your body is a wonder (I'll use my hands)_

_Your body is a wonderland_

_Damn baby_

_You frustrate me_

_I know you're mine all mine all mine_

_But you look so good it hurts sometimes_

_Your body is a wonderland_

_Your body is a wonder (I'll use my hands)_

_Your body is a wonderland_

_Your body is a wonderland_

She saw a billboard for a fire department, which, of course, reminded her of _Slow Dancing in a Burning Room._

_It's not a silly little moment_

_It's not the storm before the calm_

_This is the deep and dying breath of_

_This love that we've been working on_

_Can't seem to hold you like I want to_

_So I can feel you in my arms_

_Nobody's gonna come and save you_

_We pulled too many false alarms _

_We're going down_

_And you can see it too_

_We're going down_

_And you know that we're doomed_

_My dear_

_We're slow dancing in a burning room_

_I was the one you always dreamed of_

_You were the one I tried to draw_

_How dare you say it's nothing to me?_

_Baby, you're the only light I ever saw_

_I'll make the most of all the sadness_

_You'll be a bitch because you can_

_You try to hit me just to hurt me_

_So you leave me feeling dirty_

'_Cause you can't understand_

_We're going down_

_And you can see it too_

_We're going down_

_And you know that we're doomed_

_My dear_

_We're slow dancing in a burning room_

_Go cry about it - why don't you?_

_Go cry about it - why don't you?_

_Go cry about it - why don't you?_

_My dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room_

_Burning room_

_Burning room_

_Burning room_

_Burning room_

_Don't you think we oughta know by now?_

_Don't you think we shoulda learned somehow?_

_Don't you think we oughta know by now?_

_Don't you think we shoulda learned somehow?_

_Don't you think we oughta know by now?_

_Don't you think we shoulda learned somehow?_

Amu smiled as her world zoomed by at 60-70mph.

A/N-Haha, this is like... A new record for updates~! Just so you know, this saturday, I'll be going to the Bahamas (yeah, thats right, Amu and Ikuto are going too) and I'll be stuck on a plane for about 2 hours, so I'll probably pop out another chapter around then too. Remember to Review! Reviewers get virtual Ikuto plushies! :D


	15. A Cooking Insomniac

"So like… What are you gonna do to that chicken?" Amu asked as she walked in the door alongside Ikuto.

"Well, I found a note on the fridge from the people who own this house that we're aloud to use the things they have in the fridge and pantry, as long as we promise not to clean it all out. So I've got some lettuce and other veggies… You think you can handle making salad?"

Amu tried to hold back a giggle.

Ikuto started to unload the groceries, "Why are you laughing?"

Amu covered her mouth as she giggled, "You said 'veggies.'"

Ikuto smiled at her, "Is there something wrong with saying 'veggies' instead of 'vegetables?'"

Amu only laughed in response and she went to the fridge and grabbed the lettuce, tomatoes, olives, and carrots. She dug through drawers and cabinets until she found three bowls and a knife to cut the vegetables.

"Oh by the way, I don't want tomatoes," Ikuto said as he started to cut the raw chicken breasts into strips.

"Gosh, you're so picky," Amu said.

"No I'm not," Ikuto frowned at her while he washed the strips of chicken.

"Um, yeah, you are. You don't like dark chocolate, you don't like pecans, you don't like tomatoes, what else do you not like?" Amu started to tear the lettuce and put it in the bowl.

Ikuto placed the chicken on the cutting board and looked around for the salt and pepper, "Do you really want a list?"

Amu started to cut the carrots into little cylinders, "Yep."

Ikuto heaved a heavy sigh, "I do not like tomatoes, dark chocolate, pecans, cashews, soy sauce, green grapes, raw celery, raw broccoli, bacon, ham, and I mean the lunch meat kind of ham, not like pulled pork or pork butt, um… lunch meat turkey, hot dogs, mayonnaise, mustard, squash, green peas, flat green beans, peanut butter, duck, udon noodles, okra, beets, collards, cauliflower, shrimp, cucumbers, sweet pickles… Would you like me to keep going?"

"See, I told you you were picky," Amu tossed the carrots into the salads.

"No I'm not," he retorted.

Amu raised a brow at him, thinking of how many different foods he had named.

"Okay, okay, I'm picky. Oh well, get over it," Ikuto poured some flour into a large plastic bag.

"Point proven," Amu smiled devilishly at him.

"Hey, can you get me some bell peppers out of the fridge?" Ikuto asked.

"Some… What? What are those?"

Ikuto sighed, "The big red and yellow things in the drawer at the bottom. Oh, and get me some olive oil out of the pantry, and a stick of butter out of the fridge too?"

"Okay then," Amu said. She went over to the fridge and looked through the drawer at the bottom for the big red and yellow things, "How many do you want?"

"One red and one yellow, please," Ikuto started to put the chicken strips in the bag.

Amu grabbed one of each, and grabbed a stick of butter. She placed them in front of Ikuto and went over to the pantry to get the olive oil. She examined the label then handed it to him. Then she went back to her salad, putting little black olives into each salad, and cutting the tomatoes and placing them in two of the salads, leaving the third one tomato-free for Ikuto. She lined the salads up and went over to watch Ikuto prepare the chicken and peppers.

Ikuto shook the zip-lock bag that contained flour and the peppered and salted chicken strips. When he felt that the chicken was covered enough, he got the olive oil and poured it into the pan. He waited for a minute or two, then grabbed the bag of chicken and flour. He grabbed a small pinch of flour and dropped it into the oil. When it touched the hot olive oil, the flour suddenly disappeared. He pulled out another pan, poured more olive oil into it, and let it sit in the back while he started to put the chicken into the first pan. The chicken sizzled and let out a delicious aroma as they simmered. Ikuto checked the second pan using the same flour method and just as before the flour disappeared. He cut the bell peppers into strips and put them into the pan along with the butter. The vegetables sizzled and the chicken sizzled. Ikuto took a step back from the stove to go get a fork. He dug through drawers until he could find one. While he was searching through one he said to Amu, "Hey Amu, you see that seasoning rack by the stove?"

"Yeah," she glanced over at it.

"Look through it to see if there's anything in there called Beau Monde, please," he said as he opened another drawer looking for a fork.

Amu turned around and looked through the rack for the Beau Monde. She was confused by all the different spellings, "Uh, how do you spell it?"

"B-e-a-u M-o-n-d-e," he opened another drawer.

Amu looked through the bottles of spices until she found one that matched, "I found it."

"Okay, thanks," Ikuto said as he opened another drawer which finally had the forks.

Ikuto grabbed a fork and went back to the stove and started to turn the chicken strips over to their opposite sides. He stirred the vegetables a bit and then grabbed the Beau Monde from Amu and sprinkled it generously over the bell peppers. He mixed it all in, "Hey Amu, can you set the table?"

"Sure? Where's all the stuff?"

"Um… The plates are in the very right cabinet I think, and the forks and knives are in the open drawer over there. Oh, and the napkins are under it.

Amu went up to the cabinet and grabbed three plates, went to the drawer and grabbed three forks and three knives, and grabbed a stack full of napkins. She opened the wooden sliding door and entered the dining room where she set the table with a plate at the head of the table and a plate on either side of it. She put down the forks, the knives, and the napkins and walked back into the kitchen, "Now what?"

Ikuto was taking the chicken strips out of the pan and onto a plate, "Go put the salads on the table and you and Shiragin go wash your hands."

Amu grabbed the salads and put them on the table, Ikuto's on the right of the head, Shiragin's on the head and hers on the left. Then she walked into the living room to get Shiragin to tell him that dinner was almost ready.

Ikuto seasoned the chicken with a last touch of salt and pepper, and then took the pieces of chicken back to the dining room. Then he went back to the kitchen and brought the bell peppers out to the table still in the pan. He dumped the chicken strips into the bell peppers and stirred them together. He took the old chicken dish back into the kitchen and put it in the sink and washed his hands. As Amu and Shiragin came out of the other bathroom where they had been washing their hands, Ikuto made his way back into the living room with salad dressing. He had also brought in drinks, a coke for Amu, a coke for Shiragin, and a water for himself. He sat down at the seat that was his, the salad without the tomatoes, and waited for the other two.

Shiragin and Amu soon entered the room. They took their seats. Shiragin sat at the left of the head, leaving Amu to take the head. She felt sort of embarrassed sitting at the head of the table but she didn't know why.

"Oh…" Ikuto said as he stared at the pan, "I'll be right back." He made his way back to the kitchen and came back out with a serving spoon, "There we go." He scooped himself some food.

"So what is this?" Shiragin asked Ikuto.

"Chicken tenders and bell pepper cooked in Beau Monde," he said. "I don't think I've made this for you yet."

Amu grabbed the serving spoon after Ikuto and scooped herself a helping of food. Shiragin followed in suit. Amu grabbed her fork and played with her food a bit, trying to decide what to eat first. Should she eat the chicken or the pepper first?

Ikuto could see the thoughts all over Amu's little face, so he grabbed her fork from her hand and, with an exasperated expression on his face, stabbed the pointed end through one end of a bell pepper, through a piece of chicken, then through the other end of the bell pepper. Amu looked astonished. Ikuto handed the fork to Amu for her to eat with. She took the fork and ate the whole thing at once and it was delicious. She tried to do the same thing Ikuto had done by herself, but failed.

"Amu," Ikuto sighed, "Just eat one at a time, it's okay, you don't have to do it like I did."

Ignoring Ikuto, Amu successfully got her fork through the middle of a pepper and then a piece of chicken. After she had eaten about half of her food, she moved onto her salad. She picked up the dressing, looked at the label, and put it back down.

Of course, Ikuto noticed and said "Oh, who's picky now?"

"Its salad dressing," she argued, "They come in different flavors so that if you don't like one you can have another flavor. It's not like I hate as many foods as you do."

"Mushrooms!" Ikuto said.

Amu raised her brows.

"I just remembered," Ikuto said quieter, "I don't like mushrooms either."

"Oh," Amu said.

The three of them ate their dinner and filled the dining room with pleasant chat about the tour to come and their next destination, the Bahamas. When they all had their fill, Shiragin went to watch more TV, but not finding anything that interested him, he handed the remote over to Amu, who found some cartoons to watch. Shiragin fell asleep. Ikuto sat on the couch beside Amu on his laptop. He was on a website that Amu had never seen before but she didn't pay much attention to it.

"Oh, Amu, I just remembered, I think I saw some ice cream in the fridge. Do you want dessert?"

"What kind of ice cream is it?"

"Its chocolate, and there are some strawberries and bananas if you want a topping," Ikuto started to get up to prepare himself a bowl.

"Yeah, can I have bananas on top please?"

"Can do," Ikuto said as he wandered back off into the kitchen. He got two bowls, two spoons, a knife, a couple strawberries, a banana, the chocolate ice cream, and chocolate sauce. He put three large scoops in each bowl and then he cut up the fruit. He put strawberries in one and bananas in the other. Then he grabbed the chocolate syrup and drizzled it over the ice cream. He stuck the spoons into the ice cream, but the other things away, and carried both bowls back to the living room along with a paper towel for each person.

"Here you go," Ikuto held the bowl out in front of Amu.

"Thanks," Amu looked down at the bowl. There was the chocolate ice cream at the bottom and there were slices of banana artistically placed into the creases of the frozen treat and it was all topped off with a drizzle of chocolate syrup. She took her spoon and dug it into the partly frozen ice cream making sure to get half a slice of banana with her ice cream and syrup. She took a bite and the cold ice cream froze her mouth. She continued to eat while she watched TV, something about a yellow sponge that lives in a pineapple.

When Amu and Ikuto finished their dessert, they decided that, because of the jet lag, it was probably best that they go to bed. They went up to their room and left Shiragin, who had fallen asleep already, on the couch in front of the TV. Amu claimed her green bed and Ikuto his blue. They flopped down and Amu, being closest to the light switch, turned the lights off.

Ikuto counted. He was tired but he couldn't sleep. He listened to see if Amu was asleep, listening to her breathing pattern, listening for a snore. She was asleep. Ikuto couldn't do anything but count. He counted, he got up to 4,392 before he finally fell victim to dreamland. Nevertheless, he couldn't stay asleep for long. He woke up at exactly 10 o'clock, again at exactly 11 o'clock, and again at exactly 11 o'clock. The rest of the night followed in suit.

At 3 in the morning Ikuto finally sat up. He rubbed the hair off his forehead and ran his hand back over his head, "Great," he said in a whisper to himself, "_Insomnia_."

A/N- Haha… I do not own Spongebob! Or Shugo Chara for that matter. Remember to review!


	16. Toast, Eggs, and a Side of Lighthouse

It wasn't the first time Ikuto had this problem. Oh no, he had it for years as a child, but his insomnia coming back to haunt him now of all times was just too troublesome. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep, he wanted to do something constructive. He grabbed Amu's phone and set the alarm on it for seven o'clock and turned the volume all the way up. He crept quietly out of the room and into the bathroom where he got a bobby pin out of the drawer. He picked Shiragin's lock and set the alarm on his phone to 7:05 and went down the stairs. He turned off the alarm on the house so he wouldn't set it off by opening the doors then left. It being only three in the morning, the air was cold and sticky. He could feel a thin sheet of fine dew settle on his face after he walked into the fog. He followed the wooden walkway out to the dock. The wind blew wildly at him after he left the safety of the trees and went out onto the open dock. The dock creaked even as light feet fell atop them. He walked out to the end of the dock and gazed across the empty marsh. The tide was out so all the water was gone, exposing mud, oysters, crabs, and snails. After about 30 minutes of scanning his surroundings, Ikuto lied down on the dock. Goosebumps crawled across his flesh when his arms pressed themselves to the cold, dead wood. Then he waited. He waited for it to be seven o'clock so he could go back on the house and have something to do. So while he waited, he counted.

_ 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10._

"Ugh, this dock isn't comfortable at all," Ikuto said as he rolled over on his back sprawling his legs and arms out. He gazed up at the stars. They shimmered.

Ikuto rolled over some more, trying to find some comfortable position. He ended up laying down on his stomach and holding his head off the suspended floor with his arms across his forehead, "If I died right now, I wonder what would be the cause of it." Talking to himself was something of a habit when he was alone. "The wood would probably break below me and I'd fall and crack my skull on those bricks down there… or something. Why are there bricks down there?" Ikuto let out a heavy yawn and started to feel tired. He sang music to himself in his head to put himself to sleep.

He managed to stay asleep until 6:34 in the morning. He got up, stretched his muscles, sore from sleeping on wood, and then walked back up to the house in the cool air. He sat on the couch and opened the browser and checked the weather for the day. Moderate temperatures and fairly cloudy. He was happier to see that it would be very excruciatingly hot tomorrow, though. He closed his laptop and watched TV while he waited for Amu to wake up. He glanced at the clock on his phone, 6:59. After a few seconds, he heard a loud alarm chime followed by a scream followed by the thud of Amu panicking and falling out of the bed. The alarm soon stopped and Amu emerged out of the room.

Ikuto was now standing in the kitchen fashioning an apron, a frying pan, a carton of eggs, and a whisk. On the counter in front of him was a bowl, salt, pepper, a jug of milk, a spatula, three plates, and a stick of butter. He looked up at her as she started to walk down the stairs, "How do you like your eggs?"

She stared at him a few seconds, processing what he had said.

"Oh, I like them scrambled."

He pursed his lips as he looked at the stove, "Well then." Ikuto turned the heat on the stove and put the frying pan on top, "How many eggs do you want?"

Amu walked past Ikuto and sat down at the small kitchen table, "Three."

Ikuto grabbed two more frying pans and another bowl out of the cabinet and put them on two of the three remaining spots on the stove. He grabbed 8 eggs out of the carton and lined them up beside the stove. He cracked three eggs into each bowl, and two into a frying pan after buttering the bottom. Right on time, Shiragin was coming down the stairs much more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed than Amu was. He mixed a small bit of milk into each egg bowl, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, then whisked the two mixes. He poured one into one of the buttered frying pans, and the other bowl into the other frying pan. He tended to the first pair of eggs, the sunny-side-up ones. He flipped them over so they could cook a little on both sides before placing them on one of the plates. He then tended to mixing around the scrambled eggs. When they were done, he put them on a plate. The last one was an omelet, which he carefully folded in half and placed on the last plate. He placed the plates on the table, the scrambled eggs in front of Amu, the omelet in front of Shiragin, and the sunny-side-up eggs at the empty spot.

"Amu, how many pieces of toast do you want?"

"Just one, please," she replied.

Ikuto grabbed four pieces and placed them in the toaster filling up each spot. He pulled one lever all the way down and two of them about a third of the way down, "Amu, how dark do you want it?"

"Mostly dark, please," she replied.

He pulled the last one two thirds of the way down.

He grabbed three forks and placed them at the table for the group, and three glasses. He got ice water for himself and orange juice for Shiragin. "Amu, what do you want to drink?"

"Orange juice, please," she replied.

He poured another orange juice, and placed the glasses at the table. The toast popped up, so he grabbed them, a stick of butter, a bottle of jam, and three knives and placed them all on the table.

He sat down and eagerly checked his watch which read 7:09. He smiled triumphantly at his time. They ate and chatted about how they slept, while Ikuto hid behind lies of his dreams of falling through the dock.

Amu got up and placed her dishes in the sink, "Well, I'm off to take shower."

"No you aren't," Ikuto said while he got up.

Amu glared at him, "What do you want if first? Cause I called it first, so I get it first."

"Nope, you just don't want to take a shower in the morning because we're going to the beach, and there's no point in taking a shower right before the beach."

Amu sighed, "Okay then. I'll be packing."

"You don't need to do that either," Ikuto put his things in the sink, "It's gonna be cold today, so we aren't going swimming. We're going walking."

She sighed, "Can I at least go _change_?"

Ikuto grabbed Shiragin's plate and placed it in the sink, "Yes, you can."

While Amu was upstairs, Ikuto washed the dishes from the morning. Ikuto went up to the bedroom, but stopped before he walked it. He knocked on the door and said to Amu through the wood, "Amu, can you hand me my jeans?"

"Where are they?" she asked.

"In my suitcase," he said.

"Which pair?"

"The dark ones," he said.

There were a few seconds of hesitation, "Ikuto, all your jeans are dark."

"Oh yeah, good point. Um, they should be the first ones of the very left of my suitcase."

He heard her light footsteps traveling from the back of the small room up to the door. The door cracked open slightly and a hand jutted out holding a pair of dark jeans, "These?"

Ikuto grabbed them from her, "Yep."

Feeling no shame, Ikuto took off his pajama bottoms and pulled on the jeans. He didn't really care to change his boxers, he had a feeling something would happen to them today. He planned to change them whenever he came back anyway.

He wadded up his pajama pants and opened the door up just a crack and tossed them in the direction of his suitcase and waited outside the door for Amu. She came out of the bedroom wearing jean shorts that went just past her knee and a 3-quarter length red shirt. Of course, Ikuto was already dressed in a green tee and his jeans. They brushed their teeth, brushed their hair, and headed downstairs. Amu strapped on her sandals, Ikuto slipped on his flip flops, and then the two went to the garage and got on Ikuto's motorcycle, Amu in front and Ikuto behind her. He pulled out of the drive way and zoomed down the road much faster than the speed limit allowed. There was no one around and it was a very unpopulated area, so they were okay. When he got on the highway he slowed down. They started to ride up a bridge and the red light went on just as they had gotten on. The two waited on the motorcycle at the front of the line while the middle of the bridge spun 90 degrees allowing a tall boat to pass through. Then they waited for it to close again before zooming down the road and turning left. Ikuto went slowly through the curvy road that passed through the woods.

"Oh, Amu," Ikuto pulled to a stop at an intersection, "They have a lighthouse you can go up in. Do you want to go today or tomorrow?"

"Uh, let's go today."

Ikuto turned onto the road which lead to the beach with the lighthouse and found parking spot. They walked up the sidewalk beside the monument, "Do you want to go ahead and go up now or wait until after the beach?"

Amu looked at the tall lighthouse and thought it over, "Let's go up now."

They went in the small gate and paid the woman at the stand ten dollars, five dollars for each ticket. Then Amu and Ikuto went into the lighthouse. The bottom had a small well looking thing in it, and the stairs were in a spiral form where you would go up about fifteen feet then there would be a semi-circle platform, then you go up another flight of stairs and go on another platform. They walked up and up and up until they got to the top. At the top was a balcony that you could go walk on.

"Wow, its so high up here!" Amu exclaimed as she looked over the edge of the railing at the beach.

Ikuto came over and joined her in looking at the beach.

"Hey, Ikuto, doesn't it sorta feel like this thing is going to fall over?"

"Yeah," he gripped onto the edge of the railing just a little tighter as the thought of the large monument falling over, "I guess."

After looking over the horizon for a few minutes, they went back down the stairs.

"You know," Ikuto said as he followed Amu closely behind, "The Eiffel Tower is taller."

"I thought you hadn't been to Paris before," Amu stopped at the platform and waited for Ikuto.

"I have never said that."

"Then why do you want to go so bad?"

"Just cause I've been there before doesn't mean that I don't want to go again. Plus, the last time I went, I was only eight, so that was ten years ago."

Amu just hummed in response, trying to figure out why Ikuto wanted to go so bad. Maybe he just liked it there? But there had to be a "reason" reason behind it, she just knew it.


	17. A Turtle, Some English, and Coming Out

Amu and Ikuto walked out on to the beach. They were the only ones there. It was pretty chilly today and there was a slight chance of rain.

"Okay, Amu, which way do you want to go?"

Amu looked both ways before she answered "Right."

They moved closer to the shore and started walking down the beach.

They chatted while they walked. They poked a dead jellyfish they found on the shore. Then it moved and they both left in a hurry. They walked along the beach, Ikuto on the left closest to the water and Amu on the right. They soon came to a large black jetty jetting out from the sand. Amu moved up on the beach so she didn't have to jump over. Ikuto jumped onto the jetty and then started to walk up the beach on it until he was near the tree line.

"Why'd you go all the way up here?" Amu asked after she ran after him up to the tree line.

Ikuto grabbed onto a fallen tree and pulled himself onto a branch "I am now in an official game of The Floor—or in this case the sand—is lava. Care to join me?"

Amu laughed and said "You're such a dork."

Ikuto leaned down on the branch and held his hand out to her, "I'm serious."

Amu rolled her eyes and grabbed onto his hand as he promptly pulled her up onto the branch beside him. He grabbed another branch above him and swung onto the trunk of another fallen tree and started to walk up the incline. He turned around and waited for Amu to get onto the trunk because she took the more time consuming route by sitting down on the branch and sliding off onto the trunk. She caught up with him as they started to walk toward the head of the tree where branches started to stem out. Ikuto grabbed onto the large branch that was in their path and leaned off to the side using it as a balance. Amu did the same, but leaned to the other side. They leaped and they climbed and they slid from tree to tree to fallen tree. Ikuto leaped and crawled agilely from trunk to trunk to branch to branch. Amu on the other hand, fell behind and a couple times Ikuto had to come back and save her before she fell into the lava. They eventually both had to jump into the lava together when they ran out of trees a few dozen feet ahead. Although the sand was rather warm because of the sun, Amu and Ikuto stayed perfectly un-scorched and very much alive. They continued to walk down the beach. Ikuto watched the waves roll in from the sea but Amu was paying attention to the land far in front of her. Suddenly, she dashed off in front of Ikuto.

"Ikuto, come here!" she yelled back to Ikuto.

He followed her at his lolling pace.

"Hurry up!" she yelled.

He sped up his pace to a brisk walk.

Amu gave a loud sigh as she picked something up off the ground and held it gingerly in both hands, "Ikuto, get your butt over here!"

Ikuto rolled his eyes in a fashion that involved his whole head (partly so that Amu could see, and partly to get hair out of his eyes) and started to jog over to Amu, "What is it?"

Amu held her hands out to Ikuto revealing a baby sea turtle coated in a thin layer of sand.

"Is it still alive?" Ikuto asked.

Amu nodded, "It was trying to wiggle out of my hands when I picked it up."

Ikuto pointed out to the water, "Then take it out there so it can live."

"What? No, you do it!" she started to hand him the turtle.

"Why me?"

"Because I'm wearing nice clothes, that's why," Amu put her hands on her hips assertively.

Ikuto gave her an exasperated expression, "Do you have any idea how much the jeans cost alone?"

"Oh, so you're going to choose your jeans over the life of a poor, defenseless, baby sea turtle?"

Ikuto, for the life of him, could not think of something witty to say in reply. He handed the turtle to Amu, "Here, hold him." He started to pull off his jeans.

"What are you doing?" Amu said as a heavy blush tinted her cheeks.

He looked up at her with a slightly annoyed expression, "Well I'm not gonna ruin them." He continued taking off his pants and then draped them over Amu's shoulder then took his shirt off and did the same then took the turtle from her hands. He looked out at the water which he knew would be freezing then looked back at Amu, clearly very annoyed. He took a couple brave steps into the frigid waters, and then quickly backed out.

"Just jump in," Amu said. She had folded up Ikuto's jeans and was holding them in her arms. "You know, like jumping into a cold pool."

Ikuto sighed and tried not to clench his fists in fear of squishing the turtle. He took a few steps back and then jumped as far as he could into the water. He landed where the water was up to his belly button. Goosebumps covered his whole body, his boxers clung to him, and now he was shivering. He dipped the turtle into the water and attempted to walk out further into the ocean. The cold water made his body cringe. He stopped when the water was about to his ribs and suddenly dove all the way under until he was touching the sand at the bottom of the surf and then let the baby turtle go. He quickly swam back up trying desperately to keep the water off of his face because he felt like he was freezing solid. He quickly rushed back out to the land and shivered on the shore a little bit.

He walked over to a fallen tree and sat down on the trunk. He glared at Amu, "Come here."

Amu walked over to him, "What?"

He quickly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him, stealing all her body heat and dryness.

Amu tried to pull away, "Ikuto! Stop it! Let go!"

He nuzzled his cold nose into the crook of her neck "Resistance is futile." He pulled her closer, getting her clothes all wet in the process. After a couple more long seconds of hugging, he released her. He grabbed his shirt and pants from her. He pulled on his shirt and it clung tightly to his frame. He draped his pants over his shoulder, not too sure what to do with them. He couldn't put them back on yet because his boxers were still wet. Oh well, he'd figure it out later. He addressed Amu, "So do you want to keep going forward or turn back? I think it should be about lunch time by the time we get back, we can go out."

Amu shrugged as she pulled her now damp clothes away from her body to keep them from clinging to her as Ikuto's did. They started walking back to where they had started. Ikuto splashed in the water on the way back and played the game where you try to jump over the waves that were rolling in.

"You're such a kid, you know that?" Amu said to him.

Ikuto continued to play his game, "Am I really? Why is that?"

"You're playing games in the water. You're jumping over waves. Isn't that a game that 5-year-olds play?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, "Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. Who cares?"

Amu simply shrugged in response.

"Oh, before I forget, it's supposed to be rather hot tomorrow. Do you want to come back and actually get in the water?"

She thought it over, "Yeah, I guess that would be fun."

They walked all the way back to where they began their journey. The Ikuto remembered that he was still in his boxers. Not that anyone would notice because first off no one was really here today and second off his boxers disguised nicely as a cheap bathing suit. Unfortunately, his boxers were still wet which meant he wouldn't wear them with his pants on top, and he couldn't go into a restaurant without pants on. That was just wrong. They started to walk out into the parking lot when Ikuto veered off to the right.

"Where are you going?" Amu asked him.

"Bathroom," he walked off quickly.

Amu waited beside the bathroom for Ikuto to come out. He reemerged wearing his jeans and holding a wadded up pair of boxers in his hand. Amu stifled a laugh when she realized what his solution was.

"Do you have any idea how uncomfortable this is? Don't laugh. It's completely not the same for girls," he walked off toward the motorcycle wherever he parked it.

"But still, it's funny."

Ikuto just waited by the motorcycle so that Amu could get on first. She grabbed her helmet and he grabbed his and he stuck his wet boxers in the compartment underneath. She sat down and he sat down behind her and then they zoomed out of the parking lot. They soon pulled up to a restaurant that wasn't too far away from the beach called Johnson Creek Tavern. When the two walked in Amu was amazed to see the walls covered in money. All over, every inch of the walls, covered in one dollar bills that have dates on them, phone numbers, flags (a lot of Canadian ones in particular), and silly scribbles over the president's faces. They were quickly shown to a table toward the back by the bar where even more money hung from the railings and even on the ceiling.

A server came up to their table and introduced herself, "Hi, my name is Stephanie and I'll be your server today. So can we start you two off with a drink?"

"I'll have a water and," He looked back at Amu, "You want a coke?"

Amu nodded, remembering how bad her English accent was. She could read, she could write, she could understand, but she could not speak English for the life of her. Well, not very well. She would need some help, which Ikuto promised to give her while they were on tour.

"And a coke," Ikuto finished the order.

"And how about an appetizer?" she asked.

"Ah, no, I think we're fine, thank you."

Amu picked up the menu that was already at the table when she sat down and started to read over it. Ikuto did the same. Ikuto settled his decision on a cheese burger. "Amu, what do you want?"

She wanted to say it in English but didn't for fear of embarrassing herself. Instead, she pointed to "Fried Shrimp" on the menu.

"What? I'm sorry. For the life of me, I can't remember how to read right now. Will you please tell me what it is you want?" Ikuto toyed with her, but also encouraged her to try to say it in English.

Ikuto forced Amu to say the words in English although she still said it very poorly. When Stephanie came back Ikuto ordered for the two of them and they chatted and ate. Ikuto spoke English to Amu with his perfect English accent and Amu replied in Japanese with her Japanese accent. They paid and then headed back to the house. Amu noticed how nice and pretty the marsh looked as they were climbing up the bridge on the cycle and the unique smell that the mud gave off that was different from anything she'd smelled before. Maybe those big cities that Amu had dreamt off weren't all they were cracked up to be. Soon enough, they arrived back at the house. Amu and Ikuto started to walk up the stairs and Ikuto went ahead and claimed shower first since he had to get into the water. Amu seemed that this was a good idea and let him have shower privileges first.

They walked into the house to see Shiragin sitting on the couch—with another man's arm wrapped around him.

Amu blushed and covered her mouth when she noticed. Ikuto looked down at her and brought his hand up to his forehead in a "facepalm" sort of way. He cleared his throat to get Shiragin's attention.

Shiragin lolled his head to the side as he looked back at the two, "Oh, hey Amu, hey Ikuto."

Ikuto gave Shiragin a "don't you have something to tell her" face and pointed to Amu who still had her hand covering her mouth and a deep blush on her cheeks.

"Oh yeah! Amu, I totally forgot to tell you, but I'm gay. Just so you know."

A/N – Ohoho, you naughty Shiragin, you. Lol so yeah… sorry it took so long to get this out. Mostly fluff again. But its okay, I have plans for more romantic, perverted, and witty things to happen in the near future. Especially when they get to the Bahamas. Remember to review! (:


	18. Long Time in the Shower, Huh?

"You… you're gay?" Amu asked, astonished.

Ikuto smirked at Shiragin and nudged Amu with his elbow, "What, you didn't see it coming?"

Amu looked up wide-eyed at Ikuto and shook her head.

"Well," Shiragin stood up from the couch and smoothed out the wrinkles from his shirt, "You don't have a problem with it, do you?"

"Oh, no, of course not," Amu said as she shook her head at him, "I just would have never guessed as all." Amu decided that it was about her time to leave, so she darted up the stairs, but she watched from the banister by her room.

Shiragin's partner stood up and walked over beside Shiragin. Ikuto put out his hand and said "Ikuto Tsukiyomi, nice to meet you." He said it in his perfect English accent too.

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Matt Lasaun."

Ikuto stuck his hands in his pockets idly and leaned back, "I don't recognize your accent; are you foreign?"

Matt pointed up, "I'm from Canada."

Ikuto raised his eyebrows, "Oh, really? Well that's nice. Any particular reason you're in the states?"

Matt shrugged, "I just felt like a change of pace from all the 'aboot's and all the 'eh's so I decided to come down to the south for the summer. You don't sound like you're around here either. Where are you from?"

Ikuto smiled a smug smile. Somehow it managed to still look friendly, "Good ear you have there. I'm native from Japan, but I've been learning English for a long time."

Matt winked, "Your eyes didn't hint at all."

Shiragin said something to Matt that Amu couldn't hear, then said something to Ikuto and pointed to the steps. Amu quickly retreated to the bedroom. A couple seconds later Ikuto walked into the room and sat down on his bed.

"So," Amu said. The silence after that was thick as Amu realized the angry feelings Ikuto was giving off.

"Is something wrong?" Amu asked.

"Use English," Ikuto replied, "You need to learn it."

Amu tried to form a counter-intuitive, English "no," but the word could not be formed. She simply shook her head.

Ikuto sighed, "Amu, you're going to sound funny at first. That's normal, but you'll never get better if you don't at least try."

Amu pouted childishly. She didn't like how Ikuto was being more aggressive today.

Ikuto didn't give in. He rested his head on his hand and stared at Amu with a bored expression waiting for her to speak.

Amu bit her lip a little and decided to try. "W-What… is… wr-wrong?" She quickly closed her mouth, ashamed of how horrible it sounded to her.

"Good job. Nothing's really wrong, I just sorta don't like it when Shiragin has his boyfriends over."

Amu tried again, "Why not?"

Ikuto shrugged. "They're usually pretty annoying, and I don't know what Shiragin sees in them. There's only been one that I liked."

Amu nodded. Her friends have had boyfriends that she didn't really like.

"Well? Aren't you going to say something? You need to work on your English."

Amu shook her head furiously.

"Okay, how about I ask you some questions and you have to answer them in English, and if you don't I get to do something," Ikuto said as he walked over and sat on Amu's bed. A smirk slid across his face.

Amu pouted, but nodded her head.

"Okay, what is your favorite animal?"

Amu thought about it for a second, silently forming the words in her head. "I like dogs, I guess."

Ikuto crawled around on the bed behind Amu. He laid back on the bed so that Amu was sitting near his feet. "Who is your favorite singer?"

"It's not you," she said in her native tongue.

Ikuto kneed Amu in the back. She grunted and repeated her statement in English.

Ikuto sat up. He crossed his legs and sat Indian style behind Amu on the bed. "Let's see… What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?"

Amu sighed as she shifted her weight backwards on the bed to keep from falling off, "Strawberry."

Ikuto leaned back and rested against the wall behind him, "What is your middle name?"

Amu turned around and looked back at him, "Why the heck would I tell you that?"

"Ohoho, Amu, you're slipping up," Ikuto leaned forward. He uncrossed his legs and let them hit the floor on either side of Amu's. He then wrapped his arms around Amu's waist and hugged her tightly while nuzzling his nose into the crook of her neck. He felt her neck heat up under his touch.

"I-Ikuto, get off of me!"

"Now why would I do that when I could just ask you another question?"

Amu tried to push him off using strength but she wasn't strong enough. She sighed and waited for Ikuto's question.

"What color… is your bra today, Amu-nyan?" He could feel her neck get even warmer under his cheek. It was a pleasant feeling, actually. She was like a soft heating blanket for his face.

"B-blue," Amu stammered.

"Amu, it's not nice to lie," Ikuto said. Amu could feel Ikuto's smirk against her skin.

She wanted to cross her arms, but Ikuto's arms were holding hers down. "What? What do you mean? I'm not lying!"

"In case you didn't know, I have a very clear view of your bra from where I am, Amu-koi, and it's not blue. It's light pink and has a frilly lace around the top and a small bow in the middle. And it's underwire. Aren't those things uncomfortable?" As he said this, he released Amu's arms so she could quickly get up.

Amu crossed her arms across her chest, "How about I ask you some questions?"

Ikuto stood up and shrugged. He leaned against the wall next to the door while waiting for Amu to ask a question.

As Amu was thinking of a good, humiliating question, a thought popped into her head. "Ikuto, why do you want to go to Pa—" was all she got out before Ikuto promptly walked out of the door and retreated to the safety of the bathroom. The door quickly slammed behind him. She heard the water for the shower turn on and knew it would be a while before Ikuto came out. She sat on the bed and waited for the water to stop. After 30 minutes, she decided to go downstairs and watch some TV. She went through the kitchen to find a snack but instead found a note on the fridge. It was from Shiragin, and it read: "Amu, Matt and I went out to town. We will be back later tonight. ~Shiragin. PS—Ikuto's angry showers take generally 2 to 3 hours (but he's usually still angry after them, so he's really just wasting water). So enjoy some TV before then if you find this note."

Amu crumpled the note up and tossed it in the trash. Who the hell takes a shower for 3 hours? She sighed, grabbed a banana, and headed for the living room to watch some TV.

After 2 hours, Amu had become a fan of SpongeBob. A different show came on, something about a girl with a web show. She thought it was weird so she went back upstairs to wait for Ikuto. She sat on the bed for about 10 minutes before she finally heard the water stop. It was another 15 minutes before Ikuto finally walked back into the bathroom. Amu could tell that he hadn't made much of an attempt at drying off because his hair, face, and chest were all still dripping. He had a white towel slung loosely around his waist. He turned the fan on high and laid down on his bed. He buried his head in the pillow and turned over so he was lying on his back, but he held the pillow on his face with his arms.

Amu noticed how skinny Ikuto was. Every time he breathed out, she could see the ends of his ribs and the tops of his hips protruding from his skin. "I wish I could be as skinny as you are, Ikuto."

Ikuto wearily hummed in response. It was fairly muffled because of the pillow, and Amu barely heard it.

"Well then. It's my turn to ask you questions," Amu sat down on her bed.

Ikuto groaned.

"Um," Amu couldn't think of anything that wouldn't be too invasive. "What is your favorite… number?"

There was a pause before Ikuto attempted to answer. He lifted up one hand and held up four fingers.

"Uh-huh… and why is that?"

Ikuto turned his head so that he wasn't talking into the pillow, "Four strings on a violin."

Amu nodded. The silence was deafening as she tried to stray away from things that could possibly upset Ikuto. She decided to just leave him alone and went downstairs. She watched TV for a little bit and then got bored. She went downstairs and to the garage. She decided to explore the areas that weren't on the lot. She walked out past the house and tuned left toward a large shed. She opened the door slowly as it creaked as if it were to break. Inside there was a sky blue colored golf cart. There was a large bright yellow sticky note on the front. She picked it up and deciphered the English written on it. It said that they could use the golf cart as long as they used it responsibly and to charge it when they were done with it at the end of every day. The keys were in the glove compartment. She took the keys out and stuck them in to the ignition. The cart revved a little and she put it into drive. She slowly made her way out of the shed and out the driveway. She turned right and went down the same route as when she and Ikuto had gone walking. She went around the route a couple times because of boredom. When she came up toward the driveway of the house the fifth time, she decided to go in a check on Ikuto. She pulled it into the driveway and started to go up the stairs when she noticed Ikuto lying down on the swinging bench. He still hadn't put a shirt on, but he had changed into pants.

"Well look who got up," Amu said trying to be humorous.

Ikuto just grunted and walked over to the golf cart. He sat down in the back. He didn't have to say anything for Amu to realize that he wanted a ride. She got back in the cart and pulled out into the street. They went around the circle a couple of times in silence before Amu decided to say something.

Amu gripped the steering wheel nervously, "Uh, Ikuto, you mind if I ask you something?"

Ikuto hummed and said "Depends what it is."

Amu turned onto the paved road, "You said that there was only one of Shiragin's boyfriends that you liked. What was his name?"

Ikuto didn't answer. Amu turned left onto the dirt road. She paid close attention to the road while she waited for Ikuto's answer. She noticed a small indention in the ground, as if something had been dragging off the end of the golf cart. It went all along the dirt trail. She turned left onto the grass and turned left again. Then again she turned onto the paved road. When she arrived on the dirt road again, she noticed that there were more lines. There were all over-lapping each other, but they were all close and relatively in the middle of the road. She thought she heard Ikuto hiss a bit in the background. As they made another lap around the circle, she noticed that the lines had turned a dark, dirty shade of red. It occurred to Amu that the line was Ikuto dragging his toe or something, and the dark redness was blood. She considered slowing down the cart, but Ikuto might get mad or something. She had already angered him enough today.

Out of the blue, Ikuto answered Amu's question, "His name was Aruto."

A/N – ARGH. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorrrrrrryyy for making you wait so long. But, by the way, you guys may think of Shiragin being gay as not a big thing… now (except for the ending of this chapter) but trust me, it is a HUGE thing later on. But… WAY later on, so you don't have to worry. Oh, and another thing, anything inside these from now on (and I'll go back and edit other chapters with it too) is spoken in whatever language suits the occasion (If they go to mexico, then this will be in Spanish, if they go to Italy, this will be Italian, etc., ect). Remember to review! Cause I love reviews!


	19. Alone Time

Amu tried to break past the awkwardness by asking Ikuto another question. "So, was there like, anything special about Aruto that you liked about him?"

Ikuto continued to give Amu the infamous silent treatment as a response. She did a couple more loops before she decided she would go back inside. She looked back to see an empty space where Ikuto should've been. Amu pulled the golf cart into the lot and went upstairs to find Ikuto sitting on the couch with the TV on and his laptop in his lap.

"Well there you are," she said. She sat down beside him, taking note that he still hadn't put a shirt on, and how loose his pants were around his waist. She didn't say anything to him about it, but she wondered if he had an eating disorder. She had seen him eat, right? Yeah, she had seen him eat. Maybe he was just naturally skinny. But people weren't _that_ naturally skinny, were they? Was that possible? Amu peeked at what Ikuto was doing. He had his email in one tab, Pandora in another, Facebook in another, and he had Google opened idly. Ikuto, noticing Amu's nosiness, promptly shut his laptop and placed it on the coffee table in front of him.

"Scoot down," Ikuto said to Amu, gesturing to the far side of the couch.

"Why?" she asked as she moved down.

Ikuto leaned over and placed his head in her lap.

Amu tried to keep calm, "Ah… Ikuto, what are you doing?"

"I'm tired," he groaned. "I barely got any sleep last night."

Amu, thinking it was her fault, started to feel guilty. "Why didn't you get any sleep?" she asked him as she rested a hand on his bare shoulder.

"Eh," he sighed, "I get fits of insomnia when I'm away from home."

"Oh," Amu said, relieved. The two watched TV for a little bit before they both grew bored. Ikuto sat up and started to walk over to the TV. He opened the cabinet below it and looked through the various old VHS tapes. He picked one up, examined the front of it, and stuck it into the worn VHS player. "What is that?" Amu asked as Ikuto walked back over to the couch she was on.

"Some cartoon thing called the Land Before Time. It's about dinosaurs or something. I just feel like putting something on other than these cheap cartoons they show on TV now," he said as he laid back down on Amu's lap. Neither one of them bothered to pay attention to the movie past the first ten minutes. Amu played with Ikuto's hair while he tested her on her English.

"Water," he would say.

"Water," she would say in reply.

"Computer."

"Computer."

"Happy."

"Happy."

"Brothers."

"Brother."

"Speaking of brothers," Ikuto started.

Amu's breath hitched as she remembered telling Ikuto about Ama and Amo.

"Aruto was my brother," Ikuto said blankly.

Amu sighed the slightest bit, "Really?"

"Nope."

"Well what was the point of that?" Amu asked.

"To see what you'd say. He was really my dad," he shifted uncomfortably under her hand, trying to find a more comfortable position where her fingers weren't right on top of his ear.

Amu raised an eyebrow at him even though he couldn't see it, "Oh really?"

"Yeah, really," he said.

"Hey, Ikuto… Can I ask you something personal?" Amu said nervously.

Ikuto hesitated briefly, "Depends what it is."

Amu lightly tugged on the hair around Ikuto's ear, "Do you have, like, and eating disorder?"

Ikuto brushed her hand away and turned around awkwardly to look at her face, "I've _had_ one, why?"

"Oh, I was just wondering. You're so skinny, you know?"

Ikuto took a quick glance at his lower body, particularly where his jeans failed to touch his stomach because of his protruding hip bones, and frowned. "Amu, this isn't the kind of body you get from an eating disorder, so don't even think about it. This is a body of a fully recovered person who just as an obnoxiously high metabolism."

Amu nodded, feeling relieved that Ikuto wasn't starving himself or purging to get that body. Amu continued to study where she could see certain bones; she could faintly see the beat of his heart in his chest.

Ikuto smirked at her, "I know it's totally sexy Amu, but it's impolite to stare."

Amu's eyes shot back to Ikuto's face and she blushed, "Shut up."

Ikuto's smirk only grew at her reaction. He lifted a slim yet still masculine hand and traced her jaw line with his knuckles, "Or do you want to see more?"

Amu was speechless. What the hell was Ikuto doing? He went from playful mode, to angst, to silent, to lecturing, to "teasing." Was he having mood swings or something?

Ikuto chuckled to himself at Amu's inability to form words. He quickly sat up and leaned back, grabbing Amu's wrist in the process. He pulled her into his frame and cupped her face in his hands. He looked her dead in the eye and spoke in a low voice, "Well? Is this what you want, Amu?"

Amu didn't respond, she was at a loss at what to say. She was still trying to figure out his mood swings.

Ikuto started to lean in towards Amu, aiming for her mouth.

And, as if on cue, the sound of the house phone ringing filled the room.

"Oh, the phone's ringing," Ikuto said as he quickly scooted out from under the girl, letting her fall onto the couch. He went into the kitchen and answered the phone. "Hello? Oh, hey Shiragin. Uh, I don't know, I'll ask." Ikuto covered up the bottom half of the phone as he called to Amu, who was in the other room, "Amu, what kind of pizza do you like?"

Amu yelled back, "Cheese," before going back to trying to process what had just happened.

"English."

Amu sighed, "Cheese."

Ikuto uncovered the bottom of the phone, "Amu wants cheese, and I want cheese. Matt? Sure, I don't care. Nah, Amu shouldn't care either. Okay, how long 'till you get home? Okay. Bye." Ikuto hung up the phone. He walked back into the room that Amu was in, "Shiragin will be back with pizza in about an hour. Matt's joining us for dinner.

Amu tried to concentrate on erasing the redness from her cheeks, "Okay."

Ikuto chuckled when he noticed how flustered Amu still was.

"Oh, Ikuto," Amu said.

"Hm?"

"While we were on the golf cart," she started.

Ikuto itched the back of one of his legs with the other foot, "What?"

Amu shook her head, "Nevermind."

"Suit yourself," he said. He sat down on the couch and laid back down in Amu's lap. She sighed. "Problem?" he asked.

Amu sighed, "I guess not." She played with the hair around his ears again. "Hey, Ikuto, why is your hair so soft?"

Ikuto shrugged to his best ability, given he was lying down, "Dunno, just is." He tried to swat her hand away from his ear, but she soon replaced it. "Will you please stop touching my ear?" he asked, a little irritated.

Amu tilted her head to the side, "Why?"

"Because I said so," he swatted her hand away again.

Amu shrugged. Ikuto got up and walked upstairs and went into their room. He walked out of their room only wearing boxers and carrying a towel and another pair of boxers. He walked into the bathroom.

"Are you taking _another_ shower?" Amu called up to him.

"Do you think I spent that whole time cleaning myself that first time? I just sit around and let the water burn me. I'll be out in, like, 45 minutes," he called back.

Amu was about to protest when she realized that she never got to take her shower after they had gone to the beach, but he was already in the bathroom and had the water running. Amu decided that she would take a nap while she waited. She was sure he would wake her up either when he got out or when Shiragin and Matt got back. She rested her head on a pillow and slowly nodded off while watching the Land Before Time.

Amu was awoken by a warm breath near her ear. She felt cool water dripping onto her forehead.

"Amu," she heard, "Open your eyes, Amu."

Her eyes slowly fluttered open to see Ikuto's face above her. She tried to stretch, not realizing that Ikuto had her wrists pinned down on either side of her head.

"Good morning, sleepy-head," Ikuto said with a smirk.

Amu tried to pull her arms up, but Ikuto kept the held down, "I-Ikuto, what are you doing?"

Ikuto didn't reply. He just moved his head closer to hers. He leaned in and nibbled on her ear. His hair, still cool and wet from his shower, rubbed against her neck and sent goose bumps down her body.

"Ikuto," Amu tried to pull her hands away, "Ikuto, stop it."

Ikuto only chuckled. It didn't sound like Ikuto's playful chuckle, either. It was a dark, menacing chuckle, like the kind that bad guys do when they reveal their plans in a movie.

Amu struggled harder and harder and suddenly he was gone. She had struggled her way into a sitting position. She looked down at her lap, confused when she saw a blanket on top of her. She quickly felt her neck to see if it was still wet, which it wasn't.

"Hey," she heard Ikuto's voice from beside her. "What were you dreaming about? You kept saying my name, but not in a good way."

She observed Ikuto. He had a different pair of jeans on, a dark grey t-shirt, and he had a towel resting on top of his head, covering the shaggy hair that came from towel drying it.

Amu quickly looked away from him, trying to forget her dream completely.

She heard Ikuto stand up and sit down on the couch next to her, "Amu?"

Amu tried to hold back tears, but they stung at her eyes like needles. She quickly leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Ikuto's shoulders and held her head to his chest which was still warm from the scolding water he used for his showers. Ikuto awkwardly placed one hand on her back, the other stroking her hair, "Amu, what's wrong?"

Amu just shook her head against him, implying that she didn't intend on telling him.

"Fine then," Ikuto said. He pulled Amu closer to him, putting her over his lap in a non-suggestive way as he stroked her hair patiently.

Amu shook her head as her tears started to slow, "It was just… it was just scary." Amu could feel the vibrations of his chest as he let out a low hum in response, possibly signaling that he's had a dream like that before. Amu was soothed by the steady rise and fall of Ikuto's chest and the warmth it brought her face. Amu pulled away and laid back down in the place she was before. Ikuto leaned over her and glanced at her face, which was still red and splotchy. Ikuto got up and went to the kitchen. He got a paper towel and ran it under some cold water and rung it out before bringing it back to Amu.

"Shiragin and Matt will be back really soon," he said to her and he handed her the towel.

She nodded and mumbled a small "thanks" before rubbing the towel on her face to return it to its natural color. Not a minute later, Matt and Shiragin walked in, filling the house with the smell of pizza.


	20. His Ears

Ikuto laid down on his bed with his arms stretched behind his head. He could hear the water hitting the edge of the shower in the bathroom next to their bedroom. Amu was finally getting her shower that she asked for so long ago. He sighed and stared at the ceiling. He had been trying to figure out what her dream had been about since he got out of the shower and heard her saying his name. When she woke up, the first thing she did was feel her neck. Maybe she was having a nightmare about a vampire? Maybe he was a vampire in her dream. No, that didn't seem right. He sighed again and passed his time by listening to the water and listening to Amu hum her songs in the shower. Man, the walls were thin. He tried to remember what else was going on with her when she was asleep. He remembered that her face was a bright pink, stained with blush. Maybe they were… Ikuto felt a light blush touch his cheeks and remembered the feeling of her fingers on his ears. He rolled around on his squeaky bed and tried to kick the though from his mind, but it refused to leave. He pulled his pillow over his head and grumbled into it angrily. He heard the water turn off in the room behind him and paused. He hid his face behind the pillow, waiting for Amu to walk in. Not a minute later, Amu trotted into the bedroom with a new spring in her step that wasn't there after she had awoken from her nap. Ikuto longed to ask her what her dream had been, but he kept his face hidden deep in his pillow.

"Is something wrong, Ikuto?" Amu asked as she walked over and tapped him on the back of his head.

Ikuto responded by kicking his feet on the bed like a child having a tantrum.

Amu smiled at him, "Oh, come on now, Ikuto. What's wrong?" She grabbed the top of his ear and pulled on it a couple times.

Ikuto's hand shot up and grabbed her around her wrist. He quickly sat up and stared Amu in the eye and said sternly "I told you not to touch my ears."

Amu tried to pull her hand away as she giggled at him. "Ikuto, I didn't know you could blush," she teased as she reached up with her other hand and started to stroke his ear.

He could feel his face heating up and he tried to pull away from her, but she just leaned closer to him until he was backed up against the wall on his bed. "A-Amu," he blindly tried to push her hands away, but he wasn't even worried about seeing her anymore, "Stop!" He put his hand on her face and pushed her away angrily and then buried his face into his pillow again, making sure to completely cover his ears.

Amu sat down on the edge his bed and giggled, "Ikuto, your face is so red."

Ikuto groaned.

"What's wrong with your ears?"

"It doesn't matter," Ikuto mumbled angrily through the pillow.

Amu poked his side playfully, "What is it?"

He moved the pillow just enough so that his words were audible, "I think that all the steam from the shower has gotten to your head. You're just imagining things."

Amu shrugged and smiled, "I'll go see if Shiragin knows then."

Ikuto waited to hear her leave the room before he got up and pressed himself against the door to hear what they were saying.

"Hey, Shiragin," he heard Amu call.

"What?" he replied lazily.

"Why do Ikuto's ears make him act weird?" she asked him in a singsong voice.

There was a pause, probably Shiragin trying to figure out how to answer. Finally he decided answer with "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

Amu sighed heavily, "Yes, you do. I know you do. Now tell me!"

Shiragin lowered his voice, but too much that Ikuto couldn't hear him. "It doesn't matter to you, Amu. He… He'll tell you if he wants to, okay? Now go mind your own business."

Ikuto sniggered when he heard Amu stomp on the ground as she made her way back to the bedroom. He started to scramble back to his bed but he was tackled to the ground by Amu. He rolled onto his back under her and grabbed onto her wrists before she could touch his ears. He smirked at her, "You know, Amu, I'm usually on top when I do this sort of thing. I don't mind being bottom though."

Amu frowned at him, trying to figure out what he meant, and then she realized that he was talking about sex. She blushed and looked away, trying to pull her hands away from him, "Th-That's not what I was going for…"

He pulled her forward by her wrists a little so that she was straddling his stomach instead of over his upper legs. "Are you sure? You seemed pretty determined," he cooed.

Amu tried to pull away from him but failed. She glared at him, "Let me go, you pervert."

Ikuto raised an eyebrow at her and pulled her down a little closer to him, "Oh? _I'm_ the pervert? You're the one that has an obsession with my ears, Amu-koi."

Amu kept trying to pull away from him, "J-Just let me go…"

Ikuto chuckled at her, "Do you promise to stop touching my ears?"

Amu glared at him and blushed, "Okay, okay, just let me go."

Ikuto hesitated, but let go of her hands. He put his hands on the ground to push himself up but was pushed back down by Amu, who grabbed back onto his ears and started to rub the top of them, giggling furiously as she did so.

"A-Amu! Stop it!" Ikuto tried to push her off but couldn't find the will to.

Amu giggled and buried her face in his chest as his face started to turn bright red with a blush she didn't think Ikuto was possible of. She looked back and giggled at him as he stuttered and tried to create complete words.

"A-Ah," he felt around and grabbed her shoulders but still couldn't find the strength to push her off.

"Ikuto! You look so cute like this!" she cooed as she rubbed the back of her ears like she would a cat.

He struggled under her, trying to free himself from her grasp. "A-Amu… Ngh! L-Let me go!" he yelled at her before finally wiggling out from under her and escaping out the door. He quickly ran down the stairs, he could hear Amu getting up and following him. He found Shiragin lying on the couch reading a book. "Sh-Shiragin," he said, out of breath. He kneeled down on the floor next to the couch and rested his head on the cushion, "P-Protect me, please."

Amu got to the bottom of the stairs and giggled at the blush on Ikuto's cheeks. "I told you he acted weird when you touch his ears," she said. She started walking towards him, seeing as he had nowhere to run to now.

How wrong she was. Unfortunately for Shiragin, Ikuto decided that the safest place for his ears were between the back of the couch and Shiragin's side. He climbed over Shiragin, careful not to step oh him, and wedged himself between the older man and the cushions on the back of the couch. He wrapped his arms tightly around Shiragin and hid his head in the cushions. "Make her stop touching them!" he whined.

Shiragin sighed and looked at Amu, "Amu, stop touching his ears, okay?"

Amu pouted, "But _why_ does he act like that? I mean, they're just ears."

Shiragin frowned, "Just… trust me, Amu. Ikuto doesn't need anyone touching him there, so just don't do it, okay? Maybe he'll tell you one day, and then you'll understand why he doesn't want you touching there, okay?" He glances down at Ikuto, who still had his red face buried in Shiragin's chest, "Although, I do admit that Ikuto is extremely cute when he blushes."

Ikuto hit him on the chest lightly.

Amu sighed and looked at the time on her phone and yawned, "Fine then, I'm going to bed." She quickly trotted back up the stairs and into the bedroom.

Ikuto pulled his head out from between the cushion and Shiragin's ribs and placed it on his chest. "Shiragi—n," he whined.

Shiragin dog-eared the page he was on and dropped the book to the ground. "Yes, Iku—to," he echoed back while running his fingers through Ikuto's hair.

"Amu is such an oblivious pervert. She was straddling me earlier and had no clue why I was making a dirty joke," he said with a sigh.

Shiragin chuckled, "She's just dense. You could always try to teach her about all this stuff… but she might try to attack your ears again."

Ikuto fidgeted uncomfortably against Shiragin, pressing his face against Shiragin's chest, "I-I think I'm feeling better now…"

Shiragin smiled and kissed the top of Ikuto's head, "You going to bed, then?"

Ikuto tried to pull his head away and scooted further down the couch, "D-Don't kiss me, you fag. And I won't be able to sleep anyway. I'll probably just go for a walk or something."

Shiragin laughed quietly, "Now, now, Ikuto, how many times have I told you that 'fag' is a bad word?"

Ikuto rolled his eyes, "More than I can count," and chuckled. He rolled on top of Shiragin and blushed, "Th-Thanks, Shi."

Shiragin playfully ruffled Ikuto's hair, "Don't mention it."

Ikuto laid his head back down on Shiragin's chest, "Do you think Amu is as dense as she acts? Maybe she's just pretending to be naïve to catch us off guard."

Shiragin raised an eyebrow at him, "I'm pretty sure that I've told you that not _everyone_ is out to get you. I remember when Amu first started. You trusted her so easily."

"I know," Ikuto spoke slowly and quietly while tracing designs on Shiragin's shirt, "But there's just something about her. She makes me want to… I don't know. I want to trust her one second, the next second I won't believe a word she says, and the next I just don't care anymore. She's just another person."

Shiragin started to stroke Ikuto's hair, "Maybe you like her?"

Ikuto half shook his head, "No, no, I don't like her."

"And how would you know that," he accused, "if you never try to tap into your feelings. Don't try to cover it up, I know you're always trying to push your feelings to the back of your mind and forget about them, just like you did with—"

"Don't say it. Don't you say it," Ikuto warned.

"…Just like you did with Aruto."

Ikuto punched Shiragin hard in the chest. Shiragin brought a hand up to his chest and rubbed it, "Ouch, that hurt, you jerk."

"I told you not to say it," Ikuto mumbled. "He's gone and there's nothing I can do about it."

Shiragin frowned down at Ikuto, "Ikuto, just because he's dead, that doesn't mean you have to act like he never existed. He was your dad, after all."

Ikuto wrapped his arms tightly around Shiragin's waist, "My dad that you slept with every night." He buried his face into Shiragin's shirt.

Shiragin could feel the wet spots soaking through the fabric of his shirt through Ikuto's tears, "Now, now, Ikuto," he said soothingly as he rubbed Ikuto's back, "that doesn't make him any less of a father."

Ikuto didn't reply. He didn't let any sobs escape his mouth. They were all caught up in his throat and he couldn't speak. Tears just streamed out of his eyes silently as he listened to Shiragin breathe. Shiragin ran his fingers through the younger boy's hair and waited for the barrier to break. Soon enough, Ikuto erupted into a fit of sobs, the tears streaming down his face and onto Shiragin's shirt. "I-I miss him," Ikuto mumbled into Shiragin's stomach through the sobs.

Shiragin grabbed Ikuto by his arms and pulled him up near his face and started to rub his back, "Now, now, Ikuto…" he said as he scooted over on the couch and made room for Ikuto to lay down in front of him. He wrapped his arms protectively around Ikuto's chest, and Ikuto grabbed onto them.

"Y-you… you killed h-him," Ikuto choked out.

"Shh, shh, Ikuto," he said, calmly shushing him in his while nuzzling the back of his neck.

"I-I… I h-hate you, Shi," Ikuto managed to say.

Shiragin smiled, knowing Ikuto's feelings didn't match his words. "I love you too, Ikuto. Now calm down and go to sleep."

Ikuto tried to stop the sobs, but they didn't stop for another five minutes when he finally wore himself out and fell asleep in Shiragin's arms.

A/N—HEY YOU GUYS. So I was… I was on vacation most of the summer. So I stayed up until almost 12:45 in the morning working on this for you. C: So also, I recently noticed that you can't see my greater than and less than signs when I'm trying to differentiate between languages. Sorry. Oh well. So yeah. Ikuto's ears, as stated by him in one of the episodes (Mon Dieu, I've forgotten), are his "erogenous" zone. I like to think of it like the ahoges from Hetalia, if any of you watch/read that. And I totally threw in some IkuShi… Shikuto? DA. DA. DA. Shikuto. So I threw some Shikuto in there for you guys. Well, mostly for me. I think it's cute. Don't worry, Ikuto's straight. ;) SO YEAH. School's starting back soon, so I'm not sure how it will affect my writing. I'll be home a lot more now, because I'm going into highschool, but I don't know… So yeah. Just bear with me. Thanks for reading. Don't forget to REVIEW, SUCKAS.


	21. Update

**EDIT (May 5, 2013): GUYS THIS STORY IS SO OLD AND IM NOT UPDATITG IT ANYMORE. Sorry I left it half done, I sorta got bored with Shugo Chara when I moved on to Hetalia and other things. This story is now done, but not complete. -Deathcat213**

**EDIT (July 29, 2013): Dear AliceKat, I've been getting an email every time you leave a review and kEEPS BREAKING MY HEART KNOWING YOU'RE GONNA GET TO THIS CHAPTER UGH IM SO SORRY I DIDN'T CONTINUE THE STORY DON'T GET MAD AT ME I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW PEOPLE STILL LIKED SHUGO CHARA ANYMORE IT SEEMS LIKE SO LONG AGO FOR ME. Anyways sorry about this. u_u -Deathcat213**


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